


in an endless universe

by loosingletters



Series: a thousand possibilities [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Alternative Universe - Assassin’s Creed, Female Anakin Skywalker, Fix-It, Gen, Kid Fic, One Shot Collection, Sith Ahsoka Tano, Sith Anakin Skywalker, Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sith Shmi Skywalker, Time Travel, Trans Luke Skywalker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 37,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22955416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosingletters/pseuds/loosingletters
Summary: A collection of various AU scenarios and scenes I wrote and may elaborate on in the future.Includes ideas such as Obi-Wan raising Luke, Mandalorian Skywalkers being related to Jango, Shmi as a Sith, various scenarios in which Anakin never made it to the Jedi and one AU in which Vader defects from the Empire for his toddler granddaughter.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Shmi Skywalker, Biggs Darklighter/Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Sheev Palpatine & Luke Skywalker, Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Series: a thousand possibilities [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887079
Comments: 897
Kudos: 1933





	1. Overview

**Author's Note:**

> If any warnings apply, they'll be in the notes of each chapter, as well as ships.  
> Edit 18th of April 2020: I've decided to reorder the chapters by series. I think I'll keep doing this every 5 chapters that I update.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added dates to chapter titles so you can see more easily when I updated what.

Here is an overview of all AUs. Should one of them grow beyond the scope of this collection, I will post it as a separate story and leave a link here so you can find it. Feel free to make requests of which AU you’d like to see more of.

**1\. Obi-Wan raises Luke AU**

Summary: Instead of giving Luke to the Lars family, Obi-Wan decides to raise Luke himself and can’t bring himself to lie to his son about the truth behind Darth Vader.

Notes: Hints of Obi-Wan/Anakin, can be read platonically though. Fix-it, we’re redeeming Vader here post A New Hope.

[Story Link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26090578/chapters/63461836)

**2\. Self-Made Jedi Anakin AU**

Summary: Anakin doesn’t get accepted into the Jedi Order. Padmé frees his mother and gives both of them Naboo citizenship. Due to Anakin’s strength in the Force, he is more or less forced to figure it all out on his own and begins exploring the old Jedi temples.

Notes: Obi-Wan/Anakin.

**3\. Grandfather Vader AU**

Summary: Luke needs money to support himself and his daughter Rey and so signs up to be a mechanic for the Imperial Fleet. Vader finds Luke and begins to plan the Emperor’s downfall so his family will be safe.

Notes: Biggs/Luke. Luke is trans and Vader ends up defecting to the Rebellion. Also, Obi-Wan lives and has tea with Firmus Piett trying to stop Vader from rolling up on Coruscant without a plan.

**4\. Female Anakin Skywalker AU**

Summary: In which Anakin spends the last weeks of the war Coruscant bound and wondering whether she would get to raise her children with her wife, and then the next decade hiding out on Tatooine with the remnants of the Jedi Order.

Notes: Anakin/Padmé. Partial Fix-it with the Empire still rising, but no Darth Vader. Discusses the effect of Anakin being a woman.

**5\. Counterpart AU**

Summary: Jedi access the Force through tranquility and peace while the Sith use their emotions. When working together, they bring peace to the galaxy and hide away their shenanigans in their temple.

Notes: Sith Anakin/Jedi Obi-Wan and their adventures in co-parenting Ahsoka. Fix-it, no Empire rising.

**6\. Accidental Sith Shmi AU**

Summary: Shmi needed the strength to free herself, her son and their people and when you're a slave, you don't have the luxury to debate Force philosophy.

Notes: Qui-Gon/Shmi and Anakin/Padmé with Shmi as the head of a new Sith Order and Anakin as the future Senator of Tatooine (one or two slave uprisings in the future at least).

**7\. Reverse Padawans AU**

Summary: Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn’s first Padawan, and his adventures in Big-Brother-Padawan-Hood.

Notes: Anakin/Padmé. Fix-it.

**8\. Assassin’s Creed AU**

Summary: In the 15th century, Vader, the Master Assassin turned Templar, is hunting down the remnants of the Assassin Brotherhood. In the 21st century, Anakin Skywalker is trying to differentiate between his own memories and those of his ancestor.

Notes: Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padmé

**9\. Tyrant of Tatooine AU**

Summary: Anakin is never found and causes a slave uprising instead, taking over Tatooine. When the Republic needs help from the Hutts, they demand his head on a silver platter.

Notes: No ships. Partial Fix-it, the Empire will still rise but the Outer Rim Territories will be the home of the Rebellion.

**10\. Jedi Palpatine AU**

Summary: In which accidental time travel leaves Luke 80 years in the past and he figures with some good parenting, he can make Sheev Palpatine a model Jedi (and it works).

Notes: No ships, just Luke forcing the Jedi Order to change. Fix-it.

**11\. Ahsoka raises the twins AU**

Summary: In which Ahsoka raises the twins as Rebels and Luke and Leia turn out frighteningly competent.

Notes: No ships.

**12\. Temple Guardians AU**

Summary: Every Jedi Temple has a Guardian and when their wards are threatened, they rise from their slumber. Anakin is the Guardian of the Coruscant Temple and when Darth Sidious starts Order 66, Anakin protects what is left of his Order.

Notes: Might end with Obikin, Partial Fix-it. Jedi rebuilding their Order in secret during the Empire aided by Skywalker Family Drama.

**13\. Suburbs and Crime AU**

Summary: Anakin Skywalker was the former enforcer of the Sidious, a ruthless crime lord. Now in witness protection, he maneuvers garage sales, kindergarten, and the local amateur gangs. And sometimes, when Luke and Leia are busy baking mud cakes in the garden, he even has time to flirt with his rather attractive neighbor Obi-Wan.

Notes: Obikin. Modern AU. Humor and Crack treated seriously.

**14\. Sith Disaster Lineage AU**

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi was not so much seduced to the Dark Side of the Force as that he decided even Darth Vader deserved his compassion and Falling was the only option he had.

Notes: Obikin, TW for Anakin’s terrible childhood being raised by Sidious. Partial Fix-it. I mean, they’d kill Sidious but everything still kind of hurts.

**15\. Clone Wars Padawan AU**

Summary: The Clone Wars start ten years ahead of schedule and Commander Cody has to make sure that not only his brothers make it through the war, but also his General and his painfully young Padawan.

AN: No ships, only found family tropes all around. Partial fix-it probably. Basically Clone Wars but with post-TPM Anakin and Obi-Wan.

**16\. Mandalorian Skywalkers AU**

Summary: Shmi Skywalker’s mother was a free spirit, took her daughter with her on trips away from Concord Dawn. Years later Shmi attempted to raise her son the same way, Resol’nare and Tatooine’s wisdom alike. Or the one where Shmi is Jango’s older half-sister, Obi-Wan is raising a Mandalorian Padawan and Palpatine’s plans gets ruined because four-year-old Boba Fett loves his cousin.

AN: No ships. Fix it.

[Story Link](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000278)

**17\. Worldbuilding**

Summary: From naming conventions on Tatooine and Naboo to color meanings on Alderaan. A place where I stick my thoughts.

**18\. University DnD AU**

Summary: In which Anakin’s DnD group apparently contains his boyfriend’s son and neither he nor Obi-Wan are aware of that for an embarrassingly long while. Meanwhile, Korkie and Ahsoka conspire to get the most out of this joke.

Notes: Modern day AU. Obikin, past Obi-Wan/Satine

**19\. Luke Vanto AU**

Summary: In the span of one day, Eli Vanto got married and adopted a small orphaned boy with bright blue eyes. Not for the first time he wished Thrawn would have asked him whether he’d be alright with raising the child of Jedi, thereby harboring a traitor to the Empire, but unfortunately he was right to assume that Eli wouldn’t be able to abandon little Luke Skywalker once he met him.

Notes: Thranto. Fix it.

**20\. Reincarnation AU**

Summary: Obi-Wan hadn’t remembered who he was and who _they_ were supposed to be until Mortis forced all his memories down his throat. All that was left to do now, was picking up the pieces and hope it was enough. They had done this song and dance more than a thousand times, been everything they could be to one another. It would just need more time in this life.

Notes: Fix-it. Obikin at times but also not. Just read it.

**21\. Crèchemaster Vader AU**

Summary: In which Anakin Skywalker struggles to raise a clan of former Jedi younglings while maintaining his deep cover as Darth Vader.

Notes: Double Agent Vader! Semi fix-it.

**22\. Sad Master Skywalker AU**

Summary: There are things Obi-Wan Kenobi does not expect, such as the sudden appearance of an Anakin who stems from a universe where he was Obi-Wan's Master and everything burned on Mustafar.

Notes: Fix it of sorts. Alternate verse Obidala, "Canon" Verse Anidala and Alternate Anakin/Obi-Wan


	2. Obi-Wan raises Luke AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Obi-Wan raises Luke and struggles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. Can be read platonically or as one-sided Obikin.

“I lied to your father,” Obi-Wan admits quietly.

Luke is crawling away on the floor, babbling and pointing at objects that fly to him easily. Obi-Wan never spent much time in the crèche, he doesn’t know if he should discourage this behavior, already begin to teach Luke to reign in his ability.

Then again, Obi-Wan has never been good at denying Skywalkers anything.

“I said I loved him and I was lying.”

As if sensing the darkness closing in on Obi-Wan, Luke makes his way to him. He pats Obi-Wan’s leg with his chubby little hands, a gesture meaning “pick me up!”

Luke settles comfortably on Obi-Wan’s lap, his head leaning against his chest. He’s still babbling, he’s bound to say his first word any day now. It’ll be a nice change of pace. Obi-Wan hasn’t had an actual conversation with someone for weeks.

“I still love him, I never stopped. Your father was so bright, just like you, and I can’t forget, can’t forgive, but-“

Obi-Wan can’t bring himself to say it out loud, much like he couldn’t bring himself to leave Luke with his family. It had been selfish, but he just couldn’t let go of the only tie to his past that he has left. He’s not sure where he’d be without Luke to look after, if he’d still be here at all.

 _I love him_ , he thinks. _I love him and it wasn’t enough._

Luke’s hands trace over Obi-Wan’s cheeks, smearing away the tears.

“I know, I know,” Obi-Wan says, recalling Anakin’s words, spoken so many years ago, a lifetime it feels like. “Crying is a waste of water.”

The tears fall anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I was honestly too lazy to put all of my short ideas into separate stories so they'll all end up here.
> 
> The idea for this one was rather simple: I wanted more stories of Obi-Wan raising Luke/being involved in this life and the fact that Obi-Wan said "I loved you" in past tense made me cry. In the future of this AU, Luke joins the Rebellion and shows up at Vader's ship like "My name is Luke Skywalker, you made my Dad cry, prepare to be dragged back to the light side of the force". Lying to a teenager you barely know is easy, but in this world, the whole "Vader killed your father" thing wouldn't happen.


	3. Obi-Wan raises Luke AU (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings.

Luke was 100% sure that if – no, he’d make it – _when_ he came back, Obi-Wan Kenobi, High General of the Grand Army of the Republic would be waiting for him and absolutely ground Luke until he was as old as Master Yoda. Working with the Alliance had changed the man who had raised Luke in subtle ways no one but him seemed to pick up upon. He was out in the field, giving orders, always on the move, and didn’t stop to take a break. Luke’s earliest, and fondest, childhood memories were of him sitting in his father’s lap while he meditated. The sand had swirled around them, drawing fantastic patterns and Luke had been happy and at peace.

Ben Kenobi, the Tatooine jeweler, the man Luke had called “Papa” for as long as he could remember lacked both and if Luke didn’t change something, he’d _fall_.

Ben hadn’t asked Luke to kill him in case the dark side consumed him, but Luke wasn’t stupid. He had grown up knowing how to disappear from the Empire in a thousand different ways despite being utterly safe on Tatooine. Ben had assigned someone to take him out and Luke wouldn’t let them.

So, logically, the one way to help his father was to take the cause for his fall out of the equation.

Tracking down Darth Vader was ridiculously easy. Luke was almost insulted.

He’d only seen him out of the distance, the closest they had ever been was on the Death Star. Luke recalled stories of Anakin Skywalker, friend, Master, Jedi, father and wondered how much of that was still hidden in a corner of Vader’s mind.

“He wanted you,” Ben had said so many years ago. “He loved you so much already.”

Luke hadn’t been able to understand it back then. All he knew was that his Father was _gone_ , that everything Luke would ever learn about Anakin would be pulled out of Ben’s stories. He’d entertained himself by imagining his father living together with him and Ben, fixing the speeder that broke down every other week and bringing home droid parts to repair. Those fantasy scenarios had pushed the anger away, the feeling of abandonment.

But now Luke _knew_. He had been wanted, so much that Darth Vader built an Empire of ashes as the tomb for the child he never got to meet.

“Kenobi’s Padawan… Have you come to challenge me, young one?” Vader rasped.

Luke scowled, fighting the itch to reach for his lightsaber. He hadn’t come here for a fight, well, at least not one against Vader, but holding onto his weapon had always calmed him down.

“I’m not Obi-Wan’s Padawan, I’m his _son_ ,” Luke replied.

The room temperature immediately seemed to drop by ten degrees as Vader’s fury lashed out. _Do not let him get to you,_ Luke thought. _He doesn’t know._

“And my name is Luke Skywalker,” Luke continued, his voice even and steady, not betraying him for once. “I’m here to bring you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write the "S'up Father, time to get back to the light side" scene I talked about.  
> I hope you enjoyed this! Please tell me what you think!


	4. Obi-Wan raises Luke AU (3)

“Papa! C’mon, get up, get up!”

Patience, Ben had learned, was not something Luke would ever excel at. Or perhaps that was just the way ten-year-olds were. Always running around, getting up before the sunrise to drag sand all over your bedsheets.

“Papa, it’s time to go!”

Luke, at ten looked startlingly similar to Anakin. His hair was the same golden color, his skin just as tanned and his eyes as blue as the sky above. Ben was still waiting for the moment he would call out to his son with the wrong name, but he had yet to trip. Perhaps it was because Luke had Padmé nose, cheekbones, and stubbornness, had a healthy weight due to the fact that he got three meals a day and didn’t act as demure and shy as Anakin.

His childish excitement, the rose-colored cheeks, and dragging Ben out of bed at all times were all Anakin though.

“Luke, we haven’t even eaten breakfast yet,” Ben groaned as he sat up in his bed.

He stretched and winced when he heard his bones crack. His joints ached from all the physical therapy they never got and Tatooine’s weather wasn’t kind to his weary bones.

“I made breakfast!” Luke said and took Ben’s hand.

He pulled Ben out of bed and to their dinner table upon which two bowls filled with grey mush and an orange sauce, as well as a teapot, sat.

“Did you use all the fruits?” Ben asked and sat down.

“No, we still got some, but we should go to the market. Aunty Beru said that Jabba made deals with some new smugglers so there’s lotta fruit to be bought. It’s expensive, though.”

Ben hummed and slowly emptied his bowl. Luke, of course, was already finished and dressed and all set up for their trip and now vibrating with energy. Ben poured himself another cup of tea and watched as Luke started chewing on the collar of his shirt. Ben gave it another minute before Luke would start talking again.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have told him beforehand that he was ready to get his own lightsaber. Ben had meditated many hours on whether he even should teach Luke lightsaber combat or just stick to hand-to-hand, but if Vader ever did find Luke… Ben couldn’t allow for a gap in Luke’s education.

“Luke,” Ben said and the ten-year-old immediately sat up straight. “Why don’t you go through your morning meditation while I clean the table and check the speeder? If we are to find your crystal today, you need to be calm.”

Luke dramatically got up from his chair, picking up one of his toy starfighter and plopped down on the ground just a few feet away from Ben. While Luke didn’t meditate like Ben had been taught to, he actually seemed to enjoy the exercise. Ben had disliked it at his age, and Anakin hadn’t been any better, but they usually also hadn’t been levitating toys around the room, or clung to their parent.

Thirty minutes later, Ben was done and Luke’s breathing had evened out. The sun still wasn’t up, but the planet wasn’t shrouded in total darkness anymore. The caves they needed to go to were in some distance and Ben would rather not run into any threats. He had packed his ‘saber anyway, and another blaster for Luke, you couldn’t ever be too careful, especially on Tatooine.

“Ready?” Ben asked and watched fondly as Luke nodded and got settled comfortably on their speeder, surpassing a yawn.

“I’m gonna be a _real_ Jedi now,” Luke mumbled.

Ben smiled and kissed the top of Luke’s head.

“You already are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like writing tiny smol baby Luke.  
> Thanks for reading!


	5. Obi-Wan raises Luke AU (4)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's 1 am and I just wrote 1.200 words in 30 minutes don't ask me how  
> anyway, obi-wan spends the years on Tatooine selling jewelry

Raising a child turned out to be more expensive than Obi-Wan had first thought when he’d arrived on Tatooine. Of course, when he had first stepped on Tatooine, he had still expected to hand Luke over to his Aunt and Uncle. It had only been on the second night, spent in a terrible cheap inn, that he realized he couldn’t give Luke up. He’d bonded with this child and Obi-Wan, for all that he had tried to be the perfect Jedi, had never learned how to let go properly. He hadn’t been able to let go of Anakin’s child, the last remnant of his family.

Living out in the Jundland Wastes, Obi-Wan had become fairly self-sufficient. He had bought two vaporators to collect water for Luke and himself and had found some roots that were so persistent they even grew on a desert planet such as this one. But Luke was still a newborn who needed to be fed multiple times a day and grew with every passing week. He needed new clothes and baby food. Obi-Wan had brought some from Alderaan, enough for the transfer to Tatooine and to sustain Luke a little while longer should Owen and Beru have been unable to buy some fast enough.

But now Luke was Obi-Wan’s responsibility and he was running out of credits. He needed to think of a new way to gain income. He wasn’t good enough a mechanic to work at the spaceport and he also had no plans to do so. Even on Tatooine they knew of General Kenobi, Jedi traitor. They wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a crowd but Obi-Wan knew he’d be better off avoiding interacting with spacers and smugglers.

“What do you think, Luke?” Obi-Wan asked the baby cooing on his bed.

Obi-Wan’s dwelling, a little hut that had been long abandoned, had come with only one bed that wasn’t doing his joints any favors. He didn’t have a crib for Luke and so had no other option but to sleep next to the baby. The nights got surprisingly cold and sharing body heat was the best way to keep one another warm. The first few nights Obi-Wan had been so scared to crush him in his sleep – he was so very small and frail – but by now he knew better. He’d awaken before that would happen if he slept at all.

“Should we go on a little adventure?”

Luke, of course, couldn’t reply, but he was shining so bright and happy in the Force, Obi-Wan decided to take it as a yes. The sun had not yet risen, but the planet was starting to warm up. Obi-Wan estimated that they had about two hours before the winds in the canyons would become a problem. He picked Luke up and strapped him to his chest, his head resting right above Obi-Wan’s heartbeat. He had carried him like this through all spaceports and ships until they’d made it to Tatooine. Luke was used to it by now and so was Obi-Wan. It was almost relaxing to feel his little heart beating in addition to his Force presence. Like this he was sure that Luke was alive, that not everything was lost.

Obi-Wan packed a bag for the two of them and walked out of the door, humming one tune or another. Luke resented silence, he’d always start fussing. It wasn’t like Obi-Wan had anyone to really talk to, so he had taken to singing. His voice wasn’t anything special, certainly not as nice as Anakin’s had been, but he could hold a tune.

He started the speeder and began to drive towards the canyons. He didn’t know where exactly he was heading, what the Force was trying to tell him, but he figured he should follow his old Master’s advice. When in doubt, trust in the Force, it will provide.

Time passed, the sky turned a light purple, then pink and orange. Obi-Wan kept on driving, stopping only once in a while to check on Luke, who had slowly dozed off. When the sun had almost risen completely, Obi-Wan decided to take another break as Luke stirred. He spotted some caves in a distance and decided their shadows would make a better resting place. He parked his speeder right in front of them and walked inside. As expected, the caves were quite cool.

“Not so bad for a boring planet, right?” Obi-Wan asked Luke. “This is certainly remote enough and not Tusken territory. Doubt the Jawas would come here as well. Might make a nice vacation spot, what do you think?”

Luke, of course, couldn’t reply, but he cheerily sent Obi-Wan his emotions.

“You’re right, this is a happy place,” Obi-Wan vocalized Luke’s feelings.

He was already quite strong in the Force, sharing his emotions and dreams with Obi-Wan. He’d be a delight to teach someday, certainly would have made every Master at the temple proud-

_Shut it in a box. Sink the stone to the bottom of the river. Burn all reminders._

Obi-Wan could afford to project his darkness around Luke.

“Let’s go check it out some more,” Obi-Wan said and walked deeper into the caves. They appeared t be fairly untouched by anyone and their stones echoed with stories of centuries past, speaking of great floods and peace.

Now, why would the Force want him to be here?

Obi-Wan sighed and leaned against one wall of the cave, resting his head on the cool walls. He closed his eyes only for a moment. He hadn’t actually attempted to meditate since he had decided to keep Luke. He couldn’t think of facing what had happened, not when he needed to be there for Luke and couldn’t afford to break down. But maybe he’d try here, sometime in the future. Not now.

He opened his eyes again and saw something flicker just a few steps away from him. Curious, Obi-Wan walked over to the niche in the wall. He expected it closer and found a little green stone, reflecting the light from the cave’s entrance. It wasn’t very big, but the one just above it was. Obi-Wan took out his lightsaber and used its end to hit against the stone until it broke off. It was rather pretty. Frowning, Obi-Wan walked out of the cave again to hold the stone up against the sunlight.

It flickered rather beautifully and it was clear. No flaws within the stone. He could probably sharpen it with the Force. He’d never used it to shape a crystal that wasn’t kyber, but the process couldn’t be any more difficult.

“How much do you think this is worth, Luke? Enough to buy you a crib?”

Luke was looking up at him with those beautiful and painfully familiar blue eyes. The stone Obi-Wan had found didn’t measure up against them, but it might still be worth something. He’d have to check the next time he stopped in the city. He wasn’t sure yet if this was really what the Force had sent him here for, but he should investigate it anyway.

_(Turned out that, when cut correctly, the stone was worth enough to provide a steady income. It wasn’t what the Force had sent Obi-Wan there for, he wouldn’t know until he’d discovered more of the caves where the Force sang as it did on Ilum.)_


	6. Obi-Wan raises Luke AU (5) 24/08

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER I WILL POST OF THE OBI-WAN RAISES LUKE AU HERE.  
> THIS HAS ITS OWN STORY NOW: [sun of his right hand](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26090578).

Luke wanted to hold onto his father’s robes, feel the rough texture beneath his fingertips and bury his face into the comforting scent of desert heat and dryness. But Luke wasn’t four anymore, but _fourteen_ and they weren’t on Tatooine but on an entirely different planet, in another system, days away from Tatooine. Luke had wanted to join the Rebellion for as long as he had known what it was, but now that they had left Tatooine and actually arrived at the Rebel base, Luke felt strangely homesick.

He missed their house and he missed his Aunt and Uncle and his little cousin and Biggs and all his friends and-

Luke closed his eyes for just a moment, not long enough that anybody could think it was strange, but it was all he needed to center himself. He could show no weakness, he was a Jedi. He’d make his father proud.

“Are you alright, Luke?” Papa asked him, looking down at him in worry.

Perhaps Luke hadn’t been able to hide his emotions as well as he thought. He was good at meditating, enjoyed it even. There was something exhilarating about simply disappearing in the Force.

“Yes,” Luke replied. “It’s just very busy here.”

Ben hummed in agreement and let his gaze wander over the many people stationed at the base. Luke didn’t think it would compare to what he was used to from the war against the Separatists, the hundreds and thousands of men that had been under his command, but it probably brought forth some memories.

“It’s really not a lot like Tatooine, is it?”

Ben smiled at him and Luke measured up enough courage to smile back. The world always felt a little lighter when it was just the two of them, the Force and its endless songs.

“No sand for one. That’s a bonus.”

Luke pulled a face and, almost predictably, Ben laughed and brushed his hands over Luke’s head, messing up his hair.

 _“Ben!”_ Luke hissed, cheeks flushed. “I’m not a little kid anymore!”

It was strange to address his father by his name. Luke had never called him that really, but now the situation demanded it. He should get used to it.

“I know.” Ben’s eyes softened. “But you’ll always be my child.”

“Yes, yes…”

Luke saw that they attracted a lot of attention in the hanger with their bantering. Luke supposed that they were a little odd. There weren’t any kids of Luke’s age, or younger or older, running around. Only adults in either uniforms or some wildly thrown together getup. Most of them looked like the bounty hunters that passed through Tatooine really, only they didn’t feel as harsh in the Force. There was kindness and determination to these people. Openness too given how many species were present here. The Empire was famously human with only one or so alien officer if Luek remembered correctly. Ben had kept up with news about the Empire as best he could or was able to stomach. It couldn’t be easy reading about the ruin of everything he had stood for, the death and destruction his own apprentice wrecked in the galaxy.

Luke’s stomach turned.

He had known that his father was still out there, that he had fallen and been given a new name by his Master. Luke had even read about the horrors he committed for the Empire despite his Papa’s best efforts to shield him from that. Luke had just been too curious for his own good, wanting to know about the man his father had turned into.

He didn’t compare to kind and gentle Anakin Skywalker of Luke’s goodnight stories. Most of the time Luke wasn’t even if Ben thought of the two as the same, but didn’t see Luke as the son of the man he used to love and Vader as a completely different entity.

Ben certainly hadn’t wanted anybody to know of Luke’s existence in regard to Anakin Skywalker.

He’d been Luke Skywalker on Tatooine where it was safe and the name of an off-worlder would only draw more attention, but that child he had needed to leave behind.

So with Ben, _Obi-Wan Kenobi’s_ , return to the front, his new Padawan was to follow.

Luke Lars, Force-sensitive with some connection to the great High General of the Grand Army of the Republic.

 _Jedi_.

They didn’t look all that Jedi-like in their current get-ups, wearing traveler’s clothes. They had even hidden their lightsaber beneath their robes. No, there was nothing really identifying them as Jedi, but people were still looking at Ben, pretending to be subtle when they were really not, at least not to Luke’s senses. Nobody had recognized Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, not that they had gone into the city as such, and really, who would think a Jedi sold jewelry in a little shop? Here though, despite the fourteen years of silence, people knew-

“Obi-Wan?”

Luke turned to the side, stepping out of his father’s shadow.

A young Togruta woman was looking at Ben in shock. Her face markings were white and slimmer than those his Papa had drawn into the sand all those years, but it didn’t surprise Luke. The Jedi in his stories had been a Padawan still, a child his age and only a little older. Of course she’d look different than Luke had ever imagined.

“Hello, Ahsoka,” Ben said and not even a second later, Ahsoka threw herself at Ben, pulling him into a hug.

“It really is you, Obi-Wan,” she said, her voice muffled as she had buried her face in his robes.

She was taller than Ben, Luke noticed. In the stories, Ben had always held a hand up near his shoulders or so when he described Ahsoka Tano and their many adventures. Not everything was as it had been in the stories.

“Force,” Ahsoka said and let go of Ben to look at him once more. “I can’t believe it.”

“I should say that,” Ben retorted. “You have grown up well. I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m happy to see you as well, where have you been all these years?”

“I-“ Ben stopped talking and took a slight step out of Ahsoka’s arms. He put his left hand on Luke’s back, an encouraging gesture, but Luke couldn’t draw any strength from it, he was much too nervous.

He had heard so much about Ahsoka, he thought he must be vibrating with energy. He wanted to know what she had been up to, what she had lived through, if she could teach him how to fight with two lightsabers since Ben refused to teach him.

“This is Luke,” Ben introduced him. “I’ve been watching over him.”

Something unidentifiable flashed over Ahsoka’s face as she looked him over, but it melted into a warm and kind smile, just the way Luke had always pictured her looking at him. He’d always wanted a sister and thought Ahsoka would be the best.

“It’s nice to meet you, Luke.”

Luke grinned back. “It’s nice to meet you as well! Papa told me so much-“ Luke stopped. “I mean- uh, Ben, _Obi-Wan_ told me so much about you!”

Luke grimaced. Great, his first talk with a real Rebel, with another Jedi, and he had already messed it all up. He just hoped nobody had heard. They had been supposed to lie to keep Luke safe. If somebody had overheard their conversation and oh, Force! They were in the middle of the hangers-

“I have been raising Luke since he was a newborn,” Ben explained. He squeezed Luke’s shoulder, sent a silent _it’s alright, don’t worry, everything is fine,_ over their bond before he continued speaking. “He is my Padawan – and he is my son.”

This was a loud declaration. So they were going to make adjustments to Luke’s cover. This would still work.

“Understood,” Ahsoka said easily. “Well, then, little sunshine, welcome to the Alliance.”

Welcome home, she did not say, but regardless, it was what Luke heard loud and clearly in his mind.


	7. Self-Made Jedi Anakin AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anakin wasn’t accepted into the Order and became basically a self-taught Jedi. Obi-Wan is Tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. Intended endgame Obikin.

“I hate you,” Anakin hissed as he pulled shrapnel out of his hand. Thankfully, the metal had hit his prosthetic and not his flesh hand. He wouldn’t want to run around with two prosthetics, one was trouble enough. “I really, really fucking hate you, Kenobi.”

“Jedi do not hate,” Obi-Wan replied absentmindedly as he tried to fix his damaged beyond repair comm. Anakin didn’t even need to touch that thing to know it was utterly ruined.

“Again, not a Jedi,” Anakin said. They’d been having that argument for years now and he’d be glad to be done with it.

Obi-Wan glanced at the lightsaber hanging from Anakin’s belt but didn’t comment any further on it, thankfully. Anakin liked to think that it was because the Jedi had seen how well Anakin fought with it. More likely though, Obi-Wan had just grown accustomed to seeing it because even in a galaxy as far and bright as theirs, somehow the only Jedi Anakin ever ran into was freaking Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The first time the Knight had seen Anakin’s lightsaber, he’d pretty much started shouting at Anakin immediately - which, by the way, _rude_. It wasn’t against the law to carry a lightsaber. Anakin had checked, his mother had checked, Padmé had checked and then his mother had checked again after Anakin had built his first lightsaber and blown up his hand.

Fun times.

“So, are we ready yet to admit we’re stuck here?” Anakin asked after another fifteen minutes had passed. He was done picking apart his hand and he’d rather move further into the temple.

His original reason for traveling to a planet deep in Separatist space, despite being very well-known hostage material, had been the ancient Jedi Temple and he wouldn’t back down. Obi-Wan Kenobi and his super-secret Jedi Council Mission could politely fuck off.

But no, Anakin didn’t hold a grudge. He was above that.

Most of the time.

“Look,” Anakin said. “I’ve got a temple to explore. You can either join me or try breaking that comm even more.”

Obi-Wan glared at him, but his heart wasn’t in it. It should probably worry Anakin that he knew the other man well enough to be able to tell when he was actually angry.

“You shouldn’t explore Jedi Temples without a Jedi. They’re dangerous and you could get hurt.”

Anakin snorted and held up his damaged hand. “Yeah, a little late for that, Kenobi.”

Another moment passed, then the Jedi sighed and got up. “Alright, lead the way, Skywalker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I really thought it would be funny if Anakin just travels through space whenever he can, exploring old Jedi Temples, learning stuff that's often forgotten already. Obi-Wan, starting here, gets dragged along for the ride.


	8. Self-made Jedi Anakin AU (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings.  
> Time line wise this is set a couple months after the first installment of this AU.

Anakin adored the ancient temples, the ones predating the whole Jedi-vs-Sith debacles. Only a handful were left, and of those three were more ruins than temple. This one though was still intact and the Force as alive and tangible as it was only in few places. The air was heavy, it reminded Anakin of the first time he had stepped on Naboo. The humidity of Naboo was much higher than Tatooine’s, Anakin had felt like he was drowning, taking a breath for the first time.

Entering the inner sanctum of this temple was much the same. Anakin glanced at his companion. Obi-Wan was still pale, but Anakin imagined that his cheeks had gained a little more color. All the exhaustion that had come with his blood loss seemed to have washed away the moment he entered the room.

“What...”

“It’s amazing, right?”

Anakin was vibrating with energy. He’d never really explored the temples with anyone who was like him, who could feel and understand what made these places special. But Obi-Wan was so bright in the Force, he must feel it as deeply as Anakin.

Anakin took a deep breath. He wished he could just stay here for a couple hours, enjoy the warmth and sensation of belonging, but Obi-Wan needed treatment that didn’t consist of Anakin trying out random bits of Force healing on him he usually only ever attempted on himself with mixed results.

“The layout of this temple has been pretty standard so far,” Anakin explained. “Healing halls should be up above and... this planet has only one sun, right? So up west...”

Anakin trailed off as he caught Obi-Wan staring at him.

“Is everything-“

“You would have been a great Jedi,” Obi-Wan said seriously.

Anakin stared at him in disbelief, waited for Obi-Wan to start ridiculing him, but no such thing happened.

Anakin grimaced. “I would have been a shit Jedi.”

At least, going by the way the Jedi Order was structured now, Anakin never could have made it.

“You were right to turn me away then.”

“You were a child,” Obi-Wan insisted. “A child who had just lost his entire world. You didn’t-“

“Water under the bridge,” Anakin interrupted him.

It was a Naboo saying Anakin had come to enjoy. It fit him, even more so because he was from a desert planet. You might forgive whoever had refused to help you during the drought, but you never forgot.

“I apologize nevertheless.”

Anakin mustered him and, with a defeated sigh, dragged himself back to the Jedi’s side. He put his arm around the other’s side, mindful not to touch his ribs, and helper him walk across the hall towards the steps.

“C’mon, you look like you’re gonna fall over. Let’s see what help we can get you.”

“Anakin-“

“Later,” Anakin said. “We can- we can talk about that later. Help first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah imagine you’re Obi-Wan, totally out of it bc you were bleeding to death like an hour ago. Then you go into an ancient Force site with the guy who is technically speaking half primordial power of the universe. This is Anakin’s POV only bc Obi-Wan’s would have been a constant “oh. OOOH. Well, that’s one overpowered force user right there looking like he could crash a planet only with his will.”  
> Also, Anakin is such a history and architecture nerd in this AU.


	9. Grandfather Vader AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke has a kid to raise and the Empire might not care much about its personnel, but at least it pays its mechanics well. Enter Darth Vader.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This AU isn’t as crack as it sounds I promise. No warnings.

“Her name is Rey,” Skywalker said.

Piett flinched, he hadn’t heard the younger man approach. The blond sat down and motioned for Piett to do the same. Hesitantly, he took a seat at the dinner table and accepted the cup of tea Skywalker pushed into his hands. 

“She just turned two, in case you wondered. I figured you deserved to know since Father dragged you into this mess,” Skywalker continued.

_Mess_.

That was one way to describe Piett’s current situation. Personally, he thought that he ought to call his entire day traumatizing. First, he had discovered that there was a toddler on the ship, then he got choked by a visibly overprotective Lord Vader who then in turn got stopped by Ensign Lars except Ensign Lars turned out to actually be Ensign Skywalker, Lord Vader’s son.

And the toddler’s name was Rey and she was apparently Skywalker’s daughter.

Which made her Vader’s granddaughter.

And Piett, instead of being spaced or killed, was now officially Vader’s PA, and unofficially responsible for keeping Skywalker and daughter safe.

He might be having a breakdown.

“I’ll talk to Father tomorrow, don’t worry. You shouldn’t have to suffer for my mistake.”

Skywalker looked tired but now, watching Vader play with little Rey - _What the actual hell_ \- he also seemed a lot younger. How old was this kid even? Piett had assumed Skywalker was roughly twenty-five, but he wasn’t so sure anymore.

“It’s alright,” Piett heard himself say. “I imagine it’s troublesome trying to keep track of a toddler.”

Skywalker leaned back in his chair and smiled into his cup of tea.

“I’ve managed so far, though there have been some calls when she started walking.”

Then why keep her, both of them, on the ship at all? Lars had a good reputation as a genius mechanic. He was the only one allowed to touch Vader’s ships and worked hard, people appreciated that. He was useful, yes, but certainly not so much that Vader needed him around. He’d been ready to kill Piett for just knowing his granddaughter existed. The Empire’s second must have some estate he could stash his family safely. A ship, especially a Super Star Destroyer, was no place for a toddler. Piett should take a look at Skywalker’s file. It must be edited, but it should list his age and a spouse maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This scene doesn’t give away much, so:  
> \- Luke is trans and Rey is his kid with Biggs, who left for the Academy before Luke knew/could tell him  
> \- To support himself and his kid, Luke signs up as a mechanic for the Empire and for Plot Convenience, his last name triggers a protocol Vader has running to check for Jedi or their kin  
> \- Vader then finds Luke and decides he must protect his kid (and grandkid. Oh fuck. He has a grandchild. *kill bill sirens*) and the safest place is at his side, so fake names and Rey never leaves Vader’s quarters (except when she does and Piett gets wrecked)  
> \- Rey is a Skywalker. I don’t know any other canon.  
> \- ofc they defect and join the Alliance. Biggs doesn’t die and has to deal with Vader being his father-in-law
> 
> Okay, maybe it IS crack. But at least amusing one?


	10. Grandfather Vader AU (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None  
> Set a few months before Rey is born.

“You seem distracted, Lord Vader. Where are your thoughts?” The Emperor asked, his voice not unkind, but _sharp_.

It was a tone Vader had come to associate with the Emperor’s amusement. Either he’d say something that would please the Emperor and he’d be left off the hook, or he’d displease him and feel the consequences. Either way, the Emperor wouldn’t be bored. He was bored quite often lately, though how that was possible Vader didn’t know. Many of the planets under the Empire’s control were still suffering, if not outright rebelling. There was so much to do, so many things that required their attention, but the Emperor couldn’t see them. He was happy on his throne with his reign of terror. The man who had fooled the entire galaxy seemed so far away now, but it was most definitely for the better.

It would be much harder to overthrow him otherwise, never mind keep his dearest secret away from the Emperor. Vader had buried all thoughts and memories of Luke behind layers of lies and pain, so, so much deeper than even the fires of Mustafar and the Emperor had never needed to look past those memories.

“I have a request, my Master,” Vader answered. “I wish to learn the abilities that could have kept Skywalker’s wife alive.”

The Emperor frowned, but Vader had anticipated that. His question was coming out of the blue for the man, entirely disconnected from Vader’s current mission.

“That’s a highly unusual request,” The Emperor said. “Why do you want to learn it now?”

Because he had a _son_ now. And he kept on dreaming of losing his child like he lost his wife and Vader wouldn’t stand for it. No harm would come to Luke or his child. Vader had built an Empire for them and it would be theirs to inherit. For them, Vader would study the dark once more, this time learn what he needed to know.

Not that the Emperor would ever know until he was choking on his own blood.

“Skywalker was weak because he was ignorant.” For all that his mother had taught him that knowledge was freedom, Skywalker had been so very blind and foolish. “I seek to remedy that mistake by accumulating the knowledge he refused.”

All the best lies were thinly veiled half-truths.

“You have grown well, my apprentice. You may further your studies.”

“Thank you, my Master.”

Vader ended the call with the Emperor and took a moment to collect his thoughts before returning to his quarters. It wouldn’t do well to be near Luke when his entire being was still sick with the Emperor’s power. When he felt his thoughts settle, he marched towards his rooms.

He found Luke sleeping on the sofa, shivering ever so slightly. Even after months abroad the ship, he still hadn’t gotten used to the temperature difference and wore multiple layers. Thankfully the mechanics didn’t necessarily have a uniform unless a formal event was going on. Luke could wear as many layers as he needed to keep himself warm and protect his dear secret. Vader picked the discarded blanket off the ground and made sure it covered Luke entirely.

“Father…?” Luke mumbled and attempted to get up. “Your meeting over? I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“You’re forgiven, son. Sleep as much as you want to, you need it.”

 _Joy_ and _fond annoyance_ reached Vader from the bond he shared with his son.

“I’m fine, you know,” Luke said, looking impossibly young. It hurt to know how much Vader had missed because Kenobi had stolen his son away.

“I know,” Vader replied.

 _And you’ll stay like that_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me @ myself: don't get invested in this  
> Me: *gets invested*
> 
> Anyway!  
> Vader is planning to overthrow the Emporer, as one does, and trying to keep the panic attack away at the same time. I also accidentally made Luke a teenage Dad because I am gay and not good at math. Rey’s almost 2 by the time the first Death Star is destroyed, so Luke's roughly 17 when she's born. So of course Vader is freaking out because what if they die??? Thankfully they don't.  
> Thanks for reading, I really appreciate that you stick even with my crackier AUs.


	11. Grandfather Vader AU (3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: I have a tiny head cannon about your grandpa Vader au with Rey and Luke that Rey’s signature triple bun hairdo was the result of Vader being left to take care of Rey for a morning without Luke and Vader having no idea how to do a little girls hair but Rey just loves her grandpa so much it becomes her favorite way to do her hair.
> 
> I actually HC that Vader can braid super well due to PAdmé so here we go!

Luke had never had long hair, anything that even just reached slightly past his shoulders – it only ever got in the way when you were neck-deep in a varporator, trying to figure out what was wrong with the machine. Short hair was easy to take care of and it was practical.

Rey Skywalker, under no circumstances, wanted her hair to be cut.

Luke hadn’t bothered when she was still a toddler back on the Devastator, it was rather short then there already, but he had tried once when they were in a rebel base. Rey had thrown a massive tantrum, floating tools and toys and everything included. Wise beyond his age, Luke had decided that this was a fight he wasn’t going to engage in. He had snatched a hair tie from another pilot and that had been it for the next few days until Rey spotted Leia sporting a rather complicated and pretty braid – she had come out of a meeting just then – and decided right then and there that she wanted that braid.

So Luke had learned how to do that braid, and the one another pilot used to fit their hair beneath their helmet, then that of another spy, another officer and so on and on. It became a part of their morning routine, the one part they always stuck to. Rey had done remarkably well with the switch from the never-changing life of her first two years to one that sometimes forced them to move on a weekly basis.

That being said, it really didn’t surprise Luke that Rey’s first thought upon seeing his father again, was wanting him to be a part of that routine. Vader was still testy about working with the rebels and Luke sometimes wondered if one of these days, he was actually going to snap, take Luke and Rey and move them all back to his ship.

It would certainly make things easier on one hand. He wouldn’t have to constantly move Rey’s things, but on the other hand, they were much safer on a ground base than on his father’s flagship that saw most of the battles. Besides, Rey adored being planetside, as did Luke, and Vader did have a hard time denying her anything.

What surprised Luke, though, was that he didn’t even have to show his father how to do any hairstyles. He had seen some holos of Anakin and his father’s hair had never been so long that he could do much with it, nor had he appeared with any interesting hairstyles in the holos Luke had tracked down. It must have been his mother’s influence, Luke concluded.

And so Vader took to braiding Rey’s hair, even though after a few weeks she started sporting always the same hairstyle.

“You like this one, don’t you princess?” Luke asked Rey as he picked her up.

She smiled and tugged at her own hair. “Yes! Gran’pa did it.”

Luke nodded. “That he did.”

“It’s good,” she continued on and began to ramble about her day so far. She sure had much to say considering she’d only been up for a few hours now.

“It’s not finished,” Vader insisted at Luke’s side, ever the perfectionist. “She never lets me finish it.”

“It’s good,” Rey repeated and, with one arm, reached out to pat Vader’s mask as she had always done. “Food now?”

Luke laughed and shifted his hold on her slightly so it was a little more comfortable, with no sharp little knees prodding his side. “Yes, we’re getting lunch now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	12. Grandfather Vader AU (4) 18/06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: Vader is putting Rey down for a nap and doing his best approximation of what his suit will allow for singing which doesn’t sound nice to him but his Rey of sunshine loves it
> 
> TW for Vader's physical health. Or lack thereof.

His throat ached. Usually his support suit forced air in and out of his lungs. It had taken long to get used to the involuntary movement, but after so many years Vader had gotten used to it. Now he loathed breathing on his own. The Emperor forced him to do so at times for his disobedience. He turned off Vader’s life support and his meager protection against Force-lightening, which meant he had to breathe manually. Not many had managed to drive him so far in battle that he had to breathe on his own, but Ahsoka did come to mind. When his pain had echoed in the Force, she had certainly been taken aback for a moment before resuming her assault.

He wondered what she would think of him now. The whole procedure exhausted him quickly, never mind how dangerous it was to his own health.

And yet here he was, all machinery turned off so he could produce a low vibration in his throat. He used to have a good voice before he fell, or so he had been told. Singing had been entertaining then, now it was just a torture he could hardly manage. Humming was much easier for him. The notes rumbled deep at the back of his throat, a half-forgotten lullaby he recalled his mother singing to him.

The child sleeping soundly on his chest wasn’t complaining. Rey was a fussy baby. Not so much out loud, she hardly screamed or cried, Force-sensitive children rarely spoke early when they were surrounded by others who were gifted like them. Some of the calmest rooms in the Jedi Temple had been the rooms for their youngest. They only started making noise when they were around three years of age, and then spoke full sentences rather quickly. There would be no telling how Rey would develop, similarly likely with only Luke and him to look after her. They were both strong in the Force, and so was she, even if she had been born prematurely. Then again, Anakin had been born in the desert, Vader on the shores of Mustafar and Luke from tragedy and the coldness of space. If anything, they were stronger for it.

Vader breathed in again, held it for a few moments, then slowly pushed the air out of his lungs again. The movement was precise, deliberate. He exercised as much control over the movement as his suit and his muscles allowed him too.

It was supposed to be a joyful melody, the kind that made you forget about all the hardships of the day. Vader used to associate it with safety and the sky, all his hopes and dreams. He doubted it would mean the same to Rey, locked up as she was in their quarters. She was too young now to truly understand what was going on and would be for years to come, but one day in the future she would have to leave this haven. No child should be raised a prisoner, yet Vader was forcing his granddaughter and his son to endure it for their own safety. He had to dispose of the Emperor soon so he could give his family what they always out to have.

It was getting harder to concentrate. Vader could feel his control, the absolute best and sharpest in the galaxy, starting to slip. He couldn’t continue on like this much longer, but he loathed to stop. Rey was so warm, full of content and happiness in his arms where she had been crying out in the Force before. It had been so loud, Vader had expected Luke to abandon his shift all together and just return to their quarters. But his son too had a role to play, couldn’t only be Rey’s father and the wonder Vader knew him to be. No, he had to hide away as another mechanic in the Star Destroyer’s ranks as to not draw any attention to himself.

Perhaps Vader should have brought them to Mustafar or hidden them away somewhere else, but then he’d never be quick enough to come to their aid should they call out to him.

“You’re in pain.”

Vader slowly turned around to see Luke standing in the entryway of the nursery, leaning against the door frame. Tired as he was, Luke looked so incredibly young. Vader knew he had gotten a few comments about it, they had aged Luke up considerably on his forged ID, but given his wisdom, Vader sometimes even believed it. He had been a snot-nosed Padawan still at Luke’s age. Unable to move forward or truly understand how the Force worked.

“You don’t have to suffer for us, Father,” Luke continued.

“I know.”

But he wanted to. In another world, somewhere kinder perhaps, he would be able to hum or sing for his granddaughter without walking towards death's door, but not in this one.

Luke only shook his head and finally stepped close. He did not take Rey from Vader, he merely sought out the control panels that reactivated Vader’s machine-assisted breathing. He looked up to Vader and when he nodded, Luke turned it on again.

Air was pushed in and out of his lungs once more against his will, overriding his autonomy and keeping him alive. It was a blessing and a curse at once.

“It is an unpleasant sound,” Vader told Luke when he had adjusted to the switch.

“Because it’s the last thing your enemies hear?” Luke asked.

Then he snorted, his lips curled to a smile so reminiscent of his mother, it would have taken Vader’s breath away.

“I’ve never associated it with harm,” Luke said. “And I don’t think Rey does either. She likes it. Her own personal lullaby.”

His breathing was everything but a kind lullaby, yet Rey was still sleeping. She was comfortable, swaddled in a thick warm blanket, lying in the arms of a blood-drenched mechanic nightmare. He wondered if she’d think the same when she was old enough to see the gore Vader created on his path through the galaxy. She would have to witness it someday to know Vader would never let any harm come to her, and yet he didn’t want her to ever be exposed to such horrors. It was bad enough Luke got to see the worst this war had to offer even though he was stuck on the ship.

“You’re joking.”

“No, really.” Luke grinned. “I play a recording of it when I put her to sleep. It works like a charm. Doesn’t it, my little Rey of sunshine?”

Rey, of course, didn’t reply or react in any way, but she was still warm and alive and untroubled.

It was enough for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I researched how humming and singing worked and then how Vader's breathing actually worked and came to the conclusion that humming would be extremely painful to him. Fun fact! Anakin was actually a good singer! That's canon!  
> Hope you enjoyed this!


	13. Female Anakin Skywalker (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin Skywalker was a slave, a Jedi, a wife and a mother and Darth Vader doesn't rise. The Republic still falls.  
> (Or, the attempt of a realistic Female Anakin sorta fix-it in which less people die, but we deal with other horrors.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for Implied/Referenced Rape. Nothing happens to Anakin, but people assume and talk.

There weren’t many written laws concerning the ownership of slaves on Tatooine, but plenty of unspoken ones. One of them, the reason why nobody had ever cared about Anakin’s father, was the fact that children followed the status of the mother. If the mother was a slave, they inherited her status. Slaves could die quickly and easily on Tatooine. The desert world wasn’t kind to its inhabitants and female slaves were of a certain value, that much Anakin had learned early on. She didn’t really remember being transferred into Watto’s ownership, besides the Toydarian’s happiness that Shmi and Anakin both had had small hands that could fit into all machinery. He could always use other tools for heavy lifting, he didn’t need a strong man for that, but small hands were important because they were useful.

And because they were useful, Watto insisted that Anakin was a boy. She hadn’t minded then and her mother always seemed relieved when he called Anakin a _stupid boy_. It took a few years, a few slave auctions, to understand why her mother was so glad.

Pretty little boys were, depending on the buyer, worth quite a lot, but the audience for pretty little girls was much broader. It would certainly add at least 2.000 credits to Anakin’s price. If Watto didn’t want anyone to know Anakin was a girl, he was keeping her safe, even if it was out of his own self-interest.

He wasn’t going to separate her from her mother and sell her to anyone who might be interested in the kind of practice that made a girl worth more than a boy.

So, growing up, Anakin’s hair never passed her shoulders.

That fact didn’t even change when she was taken in by the Jedi. Anakin had pondered about her status as a Jedi for years, especially when Obi-Wan reprimanded her again for failing a task. He wasn’t cruel, he never punished her, and for all that he reminded her again and again that Jedi weren’t allowed to be attached to anyone, Anakin knew she’d take on an army of Sith if it meant that she’d make him proud.

He cared about Anakin’s wellbeing enough to tell her that she needn’t call him _Master_ because he most certainly didn’t own her.

Anakin called him _Master_ either way because she hated the way the word made her flinch and she didn’t want to give the other, _older_ , Padawans a reason to bully her even more.

And in a way, he did own her, but Anakin didn’t feel like objecting too much. Anakin was a Jedi, she never wanted to be anything else or more, except Padmé’s wife. She loved Padmé more than anyone else. Her lovely wife was as bright as the sun and Anakin thought she’d be forever content if she could just spend her entire life at her side. Only the rules the Jedi had to follow of course worked against her in that regard. She had to keep her marriage a secret, could only ever sneak away in the dead of night to see Padmé and had to pretend and lie to the Order. They were restricting Anakin, too set in their ways to see that you could be in love and still be a great Jedi. Anakin had entertained the idea of leaving the Jedi once the war was over more than once. She’d settle down on Naboo with Padmé and enjoy their hard-won peace. But then all the fighting would have been for nothing. It wasn’t like the Jedi would ever change without Anakin there to provoke them. So she would stay and change and force them to grow.

Somehow, Anakin had never expected the rules of her old life, the one before the Order, to ever matter again.

Until suddenly they did and Anakin wanted to do nothing but scream and tear the world apart.

_Children follow the mother_ , Anakin thought as she stood in front of the Council. Their faces were kept carefully neutral, maybe an edge kinder than usual, but the Force surrounding them was raging with chaos.

As much as the Jedi Masters resented Anakin’s strategies, or lack thereof sometimes, they couldn’t deny that she was a great General. Her 501st was one of the most successful battalions and they were going to lose her on the frontlines.

_Anakin_ was going to lose herself for something that wasn’t her fault and she hadn’t been able to control.

She could see in their eyes that they were all doing the math, recalling the two weeks Anakin had been out of contact on a hostile planet and turned up again victorious, but bruised and bleeding in torn clothes. Anakin had refused medical examinations then, her men had been more in need of care and Anakin could deal. Her captors hadn’t been interested in trying to force her legs apart. Anakin was a Jedi General, she was worth far more when she wasn’t damaged goods.

But to the Council the timeline fit, it fit horribly well, and nobody would have blamed her for lying in that situation, just as they didn’t put any blame on her now. Even if nothing had actually happened. The Council just wouldn’t believe her, the same way nobody but Qui-Gon Jinn had believed the words of a slave.

“Do you know who the father is?” Shaak Ti asked carefully, gentle in a way Anakin had only seen rarely.

“My child has no father.”

Anakin wasn’t looking at Obi-Wan, but she knew that he was drowning himself in guilt, his sense of hidden messages leading him astray this ones. She knew that particular kind of guilt well, he’d worn it the first time she had returned from the front injured, just a few months after being knighted. It was the kind of guilt that said _I should have done more, I wasn’t enough_.

Anakin knew it well, it was the color of the blood of the Tusken Raiders who had killed her mother.

_You have no father_ , her mother used to whisper in their language. The words were different to the ones of the young, bruised pleasure slave telling her son the same.

Basic didn’t translate well and Anakin had never missed Tatooine and its easy acceptance of unknown origins more than right now.

Children follow the mother and Anakin was a Jedi. Her child would be an Initiate and a Padawan and a Knight and a _Jedi_ , but they wouldn’t ever be Anakin’s, or Padmé’s, to claim.

And Anakin found herself grieving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I wrote this because I was disappointed with the lack of Female Anakin fanfics that focus on the impact a gender change actually has. As always, more notes:  
> \- This Actually Is How The Force Works. Luke and Leia's existence is the will of the Force, so this happened. Genetically, their other parent is Padmé, who is still a cis woman.  
> \- Talking Padmé, she believes Anakin when her panicked wife has a breakdown because she didn't cheat on Padmé and she wasn't raped (tho, if you look at my [Eldritch Anakin Fanfiction](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22880668) you know I'm actually not sure whether Force pregnancy shouldn't count as rape)  
> \- Anakin doesn't fall. She's more or less confined to the temple and worried about what happens on the frontlines and whether she will actually get to raise her children (yes, she knows there are two later on). So, on one hand, her relationship with the Jedi as is more strained due to the secrets she keeps and Palpatine, on the other, the temple is full with children and people recovering from the battles who are kind to her. Anakin also spends more time with Padmé and Obi-Wan is more emotionally available, even if he can't be there physically. And Anakin isn't exposed to more bloodshed for another six months.  
> \- Mentioning Palpatine: Her relationship with him is not as close as it was in canon. Because fact is, if you're a girl some old man wanting to strike up a positive relationship with you will always come with a slightly more bitter taste than if you're a boy. Never mind Palpatine's "let's take the former slave down to the lowest levels of Coruscant to traumatize them further and manipulate them". Tbh his entire grooming in the Anakin & Obi-Wan comic is creepy af  
> \- Palpatine still wants Anakin, or later her children, so when he gives Order 66, the troops advancing on the temple are told to spare them.  
> \- Anakin gets away with a group younglings  
> \- Oh, yeah, also I threw in subtle conlang bc I can't resist with Star Wars
> 
> So. That was a lot. Thoughts?


	14. Female Anakin Skywalker (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post temple massacre.

Anakin Skywalker had always known that she wouldn’t survive the birth of her children. She had dreamed about it for months with the same terrifying clarity she had dreamed about her mother’s death. It didn’t surprise Anakin, not really. Giving birth was a painful and risky ordeal on Tatooine, she had witnessed it often enough.

 _Nobody dies in childbirth on Coruscant_ , Padmé had said, clinging to Anakin after she’d woken from a nightmare. She’d recognized Anakin’s dreams for what they were, but refused to actually acknowledge them as prophetic visions. Anakin had tried so badly to believe her wife, but she’d known better. All their plans had been for hospitals on Coruscant or Naboo, then the Healing Halls of the Jedi Temple with the best doctors and medicine money and the Force could get. Padmé had said she’d be there, Obi-Wan had promised that he’d plan his next life-threatening injury so he’d be able to lie in the sickbed next to hers.

They hadn’t accounted for an unstocked freighter, flying through hyperspace with two dozen of terrified and traumatized younglings and Padawans, trying to find peace in the Force when the Force was weeping.

Her water had broken a while ago and Anakin had started to time her contractions.

She was going to _die_ on this ship.

She had almost made her peace with death a while ago, thinking that her children would have Padmé and Obi-Wan, Ahsoka too maybe. They were supposed to grow up knowing that their mother was a hero, but now they might not even survive long enough to meet anyone. Anakin could only feel pain from her bond with Obi-Wan and Padmé- she’d been heading towards the Chancellor’s office. Palpatine, whom Anakin had trusted even with her darkest secrets, the Sith Lord who would not hesitate to hurt anyone she cared about-

“Master Skywalker, you called?”

Anakin opened her eyes and looked at the tired Padawan staring at her in worry. No- _Padawan_ didn’t do his actions justice. Kellin Mithrakk might be only seventeen, much younger than Anakin had been at her Knighting, but he deserved the title.

“Kellin,” Anakin said and wondered why her voice sounded so weak. She was barely injured, she’d managed much worse than this.

_(But her death hadn’t been certain then either.)_

No, she couldn’t linger on this. Not now.

“Knight Mithrakk,” Anakin started again, shushing Kellin with a flick of her wrist. “I’ve set coordinates for Tatooine. It is a desert planet in the Outer Rim – nobody will expect us to head there. When we arrive there, I need you to go seek out Cliegg Lars. He has a son, Owen, and they are moisture farmers. Cliegg married my mother Shmi Skywalker. You will go to him, take- take another Padawan with you and ask him for help.”

Kellin stared at her in undisguised confusion, not bothering to cover anything up with Jedi wisdom. There were no Jedi left in the galaxy, just them, but Anakin had to make sure they would survive.

“But- but what about you!?” Kellin exclaimed, panic causing his voice to break.

Anakin was glad the other children weren’t with them in the cockpit. His cry certainly would have startled them even more and Anakin couldn’t afford another breakdown right now.

“We’re in deep space and I’ve been in labor for hours now, Kellin,” Anakin admitted. “We have no supplies and I-“ _I know I’m going to die._ “-I need you to be prepared to take responsibility for these children – and my own. It’s a boy and a girl, Luke and Leia. Can you do this for me?”

“What? No- no, no, _no_. We made it out of the temple! You can’t- you can’t _die_ now!” Kellin began to sob. He’d been caring for everyone else ever since they’d left Coruscant, fixing wounds, drying tears- His Master would have been stunned to see what a great Padawan he had raised, always putting others before himself. He hadn’t even taken a minute to grieve for himself yet.

“Trust the Force and it will provide you with guidance,” Anakin said, feeling incredibly old and exhausted. She was worn down and wanted to rest, a moment of peace to bury the haunting screams echoing in the temple walls.

No. Not now, not yet.

“I believe in you.”

(They arrived on Tatooine two days later and Anakin Skywalker was dead. She was a Jedi Knight, a traitor to the Great Galactic Empire and she had lost almost all of her people.

Ani Lars was the step-daughter of a moisture farmer, the mother to two bright little suns, a grieving widow and a fantastic mechanic who traded her skills for whatever necessities were needed every tendays. If rumors were to be believed, she lived out in the Jundland Wastes with two dozen children.

But this was Tatooine.

And nobody cared about shadows in the desert.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's some Obi-Wan Kenobi logic right there at the end. Talking about the legend himself, Obi-Wan shows up 3 years later with Cal Kestis in tow because the idea of Obi-Wan passing Cal off as his kid has not left my mind since I realized how funny it would be to have those two red-heads next to each other.  
> So, yeah, Anakin makes it off Coruscant with one traumatized Youngling clan plus some asserted Padawans and one new Knight.  
> By the way, I was thinking - would you all prefer it if I start to order these snippets a little now that there are actually more?


	15. Female Anakin Skywalker (3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings except ya know, Anakin's childhood and the way she thinks about it.

Anakin had been at the temple for two months when she decided that she was indeed safe and free and could go around as a girl. It wasn’t that she minded pretending to be a boy, honestly the only thing differentiating the two was their value in credits, but she figured she should be honest with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan had assured her that she wasn’t a slave anymore. As soon as she had told him about the transmitter in her leg, just the day after Qui-Gon’s funeral, he had taken her to the Queen’s doctors so the chip could be removed.

She also didn’t need to call him Master if she didn’t want to. While observing all the other Initiates and Padawans she had learned that it was better for her if she fit in with the others. Anakin didn’t want to end up bullied. She already was something strange and weird and new to all the other Jedi, she didn’t want to give them even more of a reason to ostracize her. So she called Obi-Wan _Master_ , figuring it meant something more akin to _big brother_ to the two of them. In the safety of her new home though, a big and comfortable apartment she shared with her new _Master_ , Anakin was free to call him Obi-Wan.

In the months she had spent with him, he learned quite a lot about him. Obi-Wan was hurting a lot from losing Qui-Gon and didn’t always quite know what to do with Anakin. He had helped her furniture her own room in the apartment and let her have almost all of Qui-Gon’s old plants. Anakin adored all of the green and red and purple and yellow and blue plants that had decorated Qui-Gon’s room and was more than happy to stick them on her shelves. Obi-Wan had helped her put those up that she couldn’t reach and each time he had asked her whether he was allowed to enter her room.

“This is your space,” he had said with a soft and kind smile. “You can also lock everyone out. Nobody needs to be in here if you don’t want them to be.”

Obi-Wan also helped her find her way across the temple and showed her how to put on her robes. That particular lesson was one of the reasons Anakin was so sure that she was safe in the temple. He could have hurt her, but he didn’t. He had kept space between them and only adjusted her robes after he’d asked her if he could.

He asked Anakin a lot of questions about her well-being and never pushed her when she was uncomfortable. Her mother had always made sure that nobody knew Anakin was a girl, not even Kitster had known and he had been her very best friend, because it all ensured Anakin’s safety.

And Anakin trusted Obi-Wan.

When she got up in the morning, Anakin decided that she was going to tell Obi-Wan. She always woke up much earlier than him, as soon as the sun was up really, and so had decided that making breakfast was her part of the daily chores. Obi-Wan woke about an hour later and slowly made his way into their shared kitchen.

“Good morning, Anakin,” he greeted her and started making tea.

Anakin was still learning how to prepare it the way he liked it. Obi-Wan’s teas were all soft and fruity and not bitter like the ones Anakin was used to.

“Morning!” Anakin chirped back.

She waited until he was seated and had poured the tea before she spoke up.

“Obi-Wan,” she said confidently. “I have to tell you something.”

Anakin attempted to speak as clearly as she could. Unlike all the other Jedi, she didn’t have a Coruscanti accent. Her words were colored with the breathy groans of Huttese, as obviously Outer Rim as a language could be. Obi-Wan hadn’t said anything about it yet, but Anakin was sure it would be better if she adopted her speech as quickly as possible.

“Go on, I’m listening,” Obi-Wan replied.

“I’m a girl.”

Obi-Wan froze and set his teacup on the table. “I’m sorry, could you please repeat that?”

“I’m a girl. I decided you can know now.”

Obi-Wan paused and he slightly tilted his head. Anakin wasn’t sure whether he was aware that he always did that when he was trying to figure something out.

“Do you want me to refer to you as a girl?” Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin nodded and cut the fruits on her plate into small pieces. “Yes. Mother always said I should keep it to myself because girls are worth more, but I trust you and if anyone tried to hurt me here, you’d protect me.”

Obi-Wan looked appalled. “Anakin, I promise you, no harm can come to you here.”

“I know,” Anakin said. “Because you’re here and you won’t leave me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I have SO MANY feels about Anakin and plants. So much that I'm writing an entire longer one-shot about it.  
> That aside, nobody actually knows Anakin is a girl in those first months because she hid it and, as I tried to show here, Obi-Wan tries to teach Anakin how to set her own boundaries. He keeps physical distance and tells lets her initiate all contact. Anakin doesn't exactly get why because she had a terrible childhood.  
> That being said, Obi-Wan is a great big brother here even though he has absolutely no idea what to do. Right after this confrontation he runs to the next more experienced Master. I like to imagine he means to go to the Healers but ends up crashing into Plo Koon who helps him calm down and _no, you're not a bad Master for not knowing something your Padawan - who obviously trusts and adores you a lot now - has kept a secret since she was born._
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter! Probs gonna write about Obi-Wan meeting Cal in the next installment of this AU. Or the new little hidden Jedi temple on Tatooine.


	16. Counterpart AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jedi access the Force through tranquility and peace while the Sith use their emotions. When working together, they bring peace to the galaxy and hide away their shenanigans in their temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating M/T+ for sexual humor. Obikin. This is not serious. Not at all. My friend made a bad joke and I made a worse joke. This one-shot does not speak for the quality of the rest to come I promise.

Quinlan usually didn’t regret trading Jedi tranquility for Sith chaos. Mastering the latter was just as difficult as the former, except that for Quinlan it meant that his energy output had rose significantly. He had raised a Padawan to Jedi Knighthood and would soon pick another student to teach as a Sith Lord. Life was good and Quinlan was comfortable and happy.

But of course Ventress and Skywalker had to ruin his day.

“Like, I can’t believe that I have to go down on Obi-Wan.”

Quinlan groaned and buried his head in his hands. Don’t get him wrong, he liked working with Asajj and Anakin, the two Sith were incredibly strong and competent, but they also always had the most terrible conversations.

“You don’t have to, darling,” Asajj said and then went right back at cheering for the Initiate team fighting below in the arena.

Quinlan was fairly sure the Masters were trying to get her to take an Apprentice. Dooku had pretty much bullied Asajj into attending the Initiate battles at this quarter year’s tournament day. Usually she just waited until the serious fighting started, but today she’d shown up early.

“No, I gotta,” Anakin replied. “Have you looked at him?”

Yes, Quinlan had, he’d grown up with Obi-Wan after all, but he couldn’t see what was supposed to be so attractive about the rather exhausted looking Jedi Master currently talking to his Padawan, but Anakin hadn’t shut up about Obi-Wan in months. Quinlan should just ignore his two companions and focus on the ongoing battles.

“Once or twice,” Asajj said. “But you’re really that shallow, _Lord_ Skywalker?”

Anakin rolled his eyes and dug his elbow into Asajj’s side.

“No, of course not, but I ought to be on his good side when I take over training his Padawan.”

Wait.

“What?” Quinlan frowned. “What do you mean ‘taking over’?”

“Ahsoka’s a good Jedi,” Anakin said and leaned forward in his seat. “But she’d be a better Sith. She asked me a couple questions about the way I use the Force and meditating-“

Asajj snorted, and for a moment Anakin looked like he was going to do something, but continued on instead. It wasn’t like Asajj wasn’t right. Neither Anakin’s Jedi nor his Sith Master had managed to teach him how to meditate successfully or traditionally.

“And she’s been talking to other people who decided to switch,” Anakin finished.

“And you’re certain she’ll choose you to teach her? You are a little young,” Quinlan said.

Anakin nodded. “When she switches, she’ll pick me and I’d prefer it if it all went over civilly, hence wanting to be on Obi-Wan’s good side.”

And they were back to talking about Anakin’s embarrassing crush. Quinlan glanced towards his right where Aayla was busy chatting to the Initiates who had just finished their battle. Quinlan could still escape.

“I dare you to shout something at Obi-Wan right now. Master Windu just entered the hall, Anakin, _you have to_.”

“I do not- Wait. Master Windu? Alright, but if I’m taken off the active mission duty rooster again, you’re going down with me. Hey! Master Obi-Wan! _Force choke me_ -“

So, no. Quinlan usually didn’t regret becoming a Sith, but on some days he sure wished he’d stayed a Jedi so he wouldn’t have to deal with this mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! (Or should I apologize for forcing you to read this?)  
> Anyway, the background worldbuilding for this AU is actually pretty interesting and as follows:  
> \- Siths are not evil, it just comes down to whether you're more comfortable accessing the Force with your emotions  
> \- So Sith and Jedi are one Order with both members being less extreme in their beliefs and a certain degree in fluidity  
> \- Apprentice = Padawan, Sith Lord = Jedi Knight  
> \- Sidious is not part of the Order bc he's a dick  
> \- Anakin was first Qui-Gon's student, who didn't die, until he was 16ish and then got taught by Dooku  
> \- Xanatos and Maul - as well as his siblings - are also both Sith here


	17. Counterpart AU (2) 31/05

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates within 24 hours I know! Working my way through my prompts  
> Takes place a couple weeks before the first installment of this AU.

Obi-Wan looked down to his Padawan. Ahsoka was a great student and she’d grown so much under his tutelage. She was incredibly strong in the Force and refusing to give her his blessing would be a great insult. It wasn’t like Obi-Wan hadn’t known that Ahsoka would likely be more comfortable as a Sith. He had been busy with his own missions when his Master let his grandmaster continue Anakin’s education, but he’d been aware of the leaps and bounds Anakin’s skill set had made since his shift. Not everyone was meant to be a Jedi the same way not everyone was meant to be a Sith, but Obi-Wan still wanted to keep his student.

“Are you sure about this?” He asked her one final time and set his cup of tea on the table.

Ahsoka nodded. “Yes, Master.”

Her voice was steady, she was convinced this was the right step to take. Her conviction spoke in her favor. Obi-Wan wouldn’t discredit it by holding her back. He’d seen what it did to students when their Masters refused to let them switch and they had to sever the connection on their own.

“Then you have my blessing, Apprentice Tano.”

Ahsoka beamed up at him and without holding back, tackled him in a hug. “Thank you, Knight Kenobi!”

Obi-Wan smiled at her and returned her hug. “You’ll be a great student to whichever Sith decides to take you on. Do you have your eyes set on somebody yet?”

Ahsoka let go of him and sighed. Face-first she fell back onto their sofa, soon to be only his sofa again. Ahsoka was fifteen and while she could technically speaking move into a room of her own, she was rather affectionate and would likely continue sharing with her new Master.

“Well, yeah, but I don’t think he’s gonna want me,” Ahsoka mumbled into a pillow.

“Who?”

“Lord Skywalker.”

“Anakin?”

Obi-Wan sat down on the sofa next to her and let Ahsoka put her legs on his lap. Most Initiates set on learning the Sith ways wanted Anakin to teach them. He was the prophesized chosen one after all and notoriously didn’t want to take on a student. He enjoyed working with the younglings but didn’t feel like passing on his knowledge yet. Whether that was because he was still so young himself or would rather enjoy the freedom of his Lord status yet wasn’t exactly clear. Obi-Wan hadn’t taken on a Padawan for years, it certainly wasn’t anything strange.

“Why do you want Anakin to teach you?”

“Because he’s helped me so much already! He was on the teaching rotation when you had your solo mission two months ago-“ Ahsoka shot him a look. Obi-Wan had hoped she’d have let go of her grudge by now. It wasn’t his fault she’d had exams during that time and couldn’t come and he’d returned home injured. “-and helped me figure out a little more how I use the Force. We’ve been talking a lot more since. He’s fun and I just feel like he’s supposed to be teaching me but urgh. He’ll never take me on!”

That was definitely a problem. Students needed a new teacher before they were allowed to officially switch. Obi-Wan didn’t doubt that many people would be quite happy to take on Ahsoka, she was brilliant and showed immense promise. She had also, obviously, made up her mind about her new teacher and had a hard time letting go of it now. Obi-Wan tried to picture the two of them together and was surprised to see how easily he could see them standing side by side. They’d certainly make a great team.

“Well, the quarter year’s tournament is coming up,” Obi-Wan mused. “I’m sure that will be a good opportunity to show off your skills.”

Ahsoka lifted her head eagerly. “You think so?”

“Definitely. Anakin’s always appreciated a good fight and I don’t think it’ll be any different when it comes to picking his first student. You’d be an excellent fit.”

And Obi-Wan meant it. He was still sad to see her go, but it would be for Ahsoka’s best. Anakin was a little rough around the edges still, but all the best teachers still had room to grow themselves.

“Then I’ll win this year’s tournament,” Ahsoka declared with the same fire she’d told him that she wanted to switch. “I’ll impress him and then he’ll be so amazed he can’t help but accept when I petition him.”

Ahsoka jumped over the backrest of the sofa and landed on her feet.

“C’mon, Master!” She said. “We have to start training! I’ve got a tournament to win!”

Obi-Wan laughed and followed his Padawan. “Why do I get the feeling you’ll never let me enjoy my tea in peace?”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and smirked. “Your life would be boring otherwise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan's Expectations: Losing his Padawan  
> Reality: Gaining a boyfriend bs Ahsoka and Anakin _are_ great together, they just also share a brain cell so at least someone with responsibility must stick around.


	18. Accidental Sith Shmi AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you're a slave, you don't have the luxury to debate philosophy. Shmi needed the strength to free herself, her son and their people.

Anakin was a good child with a big heart and Shmi welcomed his ability to find something positive in every situation, but she’d rather he didn’t bring home any strangers. They were off-worlders, that much she could tell from their clothes and accents, and even if Anakin felt like they were safe, they could still bring danger to the rest of the settlement. The last attack had only been barely two weeks ago and they hadn’t stocked up on the defense much yet.

Shmi did not think much of it when she forced a slaver to choke on his own spit. They were here to hurt her people, drag them back into chains or kill them and Shmi wouldn’t let them.

What she hadn’t counted on, in the aftermath of the attack, were the people her son had brought to the settlement who were still hiding in her home.

“You’re a Sith!” The man, a Jedi, exclaimed. In one swift move he put the girl behind him and ignited his lightsaber.

Shmi supposed that all of this would be very impressive if she hadn’t spent most of her life as a slave, constantly worrying for her own well-being with a knife at her throat. She took a deep breath and told Anakin to _calm down, everything is alright sweetheart, no one will ever harm you again, I promise, I love you, I love you, I love you_.

“It is not very polite to raise a weapon in the home of your host,” Shmi said.

Her eyes burned, only for a moment, then her senses heightened again. She knew that instead of the usual sky blue, they were now the color of sunsets, of metals and wealth. They looked intimidating to some, burning embers in an otherwise impassive face, but Anakin had never been afraid of her. She had never given him a reason to, she never would, and so to him her eyes were proof of her strength. Accessing her senses was as easy as breathing, though it got overwhelming after a while. Anakin never had that trouble. His eyes were rarely only blue. When he looked into the sun, you were likely to spot golden flickers in them.

“What do you want?” The Jedi asked. “Why are you hiding here?”

Shmi had been hiding in shadows from the day she had first been sold on, always trying to make herself seem just average enough that her Masters would keep her, but never spare her a second glance.

“I’d like for you to slowly put down your weapon,” Shmi said.

She didn’t even have to look at Anakin to know he was only one too hectic move away from making the entire kitchen cutlery fly towards the throats of their guests.

“And then I’d like for you to tell us what exactly a Sith is. As far as I know, my son and I are human.”

The Jedi eyed them warily. He didn’t turn off his lightsaber, not yet, but he was starting to trust her words again.

“You truly do not know?” He asked.

“No.”

“Sith are the opposite of Jedi. They access the dark side of the Force, like you are doing right now.”

The Force? The warmth that had surrounded Shmi all her life began to sing in confirmation, bright and cheerful like it had the day Anakin was born.

“This energy, it’s called the Force?”

Shmi thought back to her earliest memories. When she had been lonely, the Force had warmed her, showed her when danger was near, guided her towards help when she was hurt, helped her son take his first steps, ensured he was healthy.

It gave her enough strength to steal Gardulla’s breath when she tried to tear Anakin, begging and crying, out of Shmi’s arms.

The Skywalkers had been free for six years and nobody would steal that freedom away again.

“Why don’t we sit down again?” Shmi suggested. “And you can tell me how you perceive the Force.”

Because to her there was no darkness, no light. Just the strength needed to protect her people, the love she gave and the hope it provided.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! More plot points of this AU:  
> -Slave Rebellion!  
> \- The Jedi changing their code  
> \- Shmi kills Palpatine because no mother would let that creeper near their child  
> \- Anakin becomes Tatooine's first senator and he gets a Jedi guard while on Coruscant because Anakin is blunt and his first instinct when attacked, is to hit back with lethal Force which is Bad when you want to take the attacker in for questioning. But it's an instinct taught by a childhood spent in fear and nobody really wants to debate with Anakin "well if you didn't want me to take down my assassin you shouldn't have ignored the Outer Rim for centuries. Have I made you uncomfortable about my past yet?" Skywalker  
> \- Shmi gets to see her grandchildren grow up happy and loved


	19. Reverse Padawans AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn’s first Padawan, and his adventures in Big Brother-Padawan Hood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Reversal AUs

“Didn’t we collectively decide that Master has taught enough Padawans for a lifetime?”

Xanatos looked up from his datapad just long enough to see Anakin glaring at him. The young Knight winced and returned to mustering the super interesting essay he was absolutely reading.

“I wasn’t in-temple in a week,” he said. “So it’s not like I could keep him away from the crèche.”

Xanatos enjoyed the freedom he’d gained with knighthood and he wasn’t about to let his older brother-Padawan ground him until the end of the Republic for something that totally wasn’t his fault.

“But Obi-Wan was here, researching Sith history or so.”

Throwing Obi-Wan under the speeder was a perfectly fine solution on the other hand. Somebody would need to deal with Anakin’s impending breakdown and Xanatos didn’t quite feel equipped to handle that. Anakin and he clicked well because they both were much more passionate and fierce, but Anakin didn’t need somebody to rant with him, but to ensure that everything would be alright. Besides, they were three Knights and, if Ahsoka counted, one experienced Padawan now, they’d all make sure Qui-Gon wouldn’t end up getting little Feemor killed. Xanatos honestly wasn’t sure whether Anakin’s near panicked state was reasonable. He and Obi-Wan had made it to knighthood just fine, but then again, Anakin had always been hovering in the background, if not walking beside them.

Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, Qui-Gon Jinn’s first Padawan.

He was one of the Order’s greatest Knights and yet...

Xanatos had never figured out the exact reason why Anakin didn’t trust their Master with their wellbeing and Obi-Wan also wasn’t telling.

So, Obi-Wan definitely deserved to be at the receiving end of the incoming rant.

“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Xanatos promised and pointed lazily in the direction of their Master and new brother-Padawan training.

“Go find Obi-Wan.”

Anakin lingered did a moment, then messed up Xanatos’s hair with his mechanical hand and ran off. Maybe Xanatos should take a vacation far away from his crazy lineage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uuuh right notes.  
> \- Anakin was Qui-Gon’s first Padawan, then Obi-Wan, Xanatos and now Feemor  
> \- Ahsoka is Anakin’s Padawan  
> \- Qui-Gon is not necessarily a bad Master but when your first Padawan is a terrified, just freed slave whom you believe is the chosen one, your parenting is gonna be shit for all the next years to come. Especially when said first Padawan kills a Sith at 19 and you proceed to think he’d ready for knighthood when he really isn’t  
> \- So Anakin is worried about his lil sibs  
> Thanks for reading!


	20. Reverse Padawans AU (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply

Anakin had resented Obi-Wan Kenobi from the moment on he’d first seen his Master’s new Padawan. The child had been beaming, happy to have been picked. He stood proudly at Qui-Gon’s side, already a head taller than Anakin had been at his age. He was smarter too, more Jedi like, and for all that Anakin was the youngest Knight in the Order, his Padawan days now gone, he was jealous.

He avoided Kenobi and his former Master like the plague, which was easy enough given that Qui-Gon was so quick to get rid of Anakin. Of course, he had utter faith that Anakin would now fulfill his destiny, or perhaps already had by killing Darth Maul, but Anakin wasn’t so sure. He wanted his Master’s guidance, his support and help, but no.

Qui-Gon was done with him.

He hadn’t even waited for Anakin to have finished healing before he went on adventures with little Kenobi. Anakin had ended up spending a lot of time with the Healers or the younglings in the crèche. He had been taken completely off duty until he’d gotten accustomed to his new prosthesis, but given how much he disliked being useless, he’d forced himself into the temple’s busy life so he’d have something to do. He gave classes, learned Force-healing techniques his Master had never bothered to instruct him in and did all he could to fill the gaps in his knowledge.

He had been Knighted too early, there was so much he didn’t know anything about because Qui-Gon had decided to follow the Force in all matters concerning Anakin. His education had lacked and Anakin was becoming more thankful every day that his grandmaster had introduced him to Jocasta Nu. The chief librarian was quite happy to help Anakin out, even if she chased him to the ship hangers at least twice a day so he’d move around some more.

When Anakin arrived in the hangers, he was surprised to see Qui-Go there. He knew his former Master had left Coruscant a while ago, but he wasn’t supposed to be back for a while. Anakin tried to escape, but it was too late, Qui-Gon had already seen him.

“Hello, Master,” Anakin said neutrally. “Where is your Padawan?”

Kenobi hardly ever left Qui-Gon’s side and Anakin couldn’t spot him anywhere in the ship hanger. Qui-Gon’s expression froze and he quickly schooled it into Jedi serenity. Anakin frowned. Something must be wrong.

“Obi-Wan has decided to abandon the Order to stay on Melida/Daan,” Qui-Gon replied.

Anakin was a great liar with amazing self-deception skills. Jedi should always be guardians of truth, but you didn’t grow into a functional well-adjusted person with Anakin’s childhood experiences. So it was true that he had stayed away from Jinn-and-Kenobi, but he’d kept track of their whereabouts rather obsessively.

He knew everything there was about Melida/Daan and its civil war and couldn’t make sense of Qui-Gon’s words.

“He what?” Anakin echoed.

Qui-Gon sighed as if he had experienced a great loss. “He decided to stay behind to fight with a group calling themselves The Young.”

 _“And you let him!?”_ Anakin snarled.

He was surprised how harsh his voice sounded even to himself, but he couldn’t comprehend his Master’s worlds. Certainly, he wouldn’t allow his very young and ignorant Padawan to stay behind and fight in a war.

“It was his decision,” Qui-Gon only answered. “I didn’t think you would-“

“Yes! You didn’t think, you never do!” Anakin shouted. He wanted to continue yelling at Qui-Gon. Scream and rage and hurt him for all the pain he brought Anakin, but he couldn’t because this was not about him. This was about tiny, bright and cheerful Obi-Wan being left behind by the person who was supposed to care for him. “He’s a thirteen-year-old! Thirteen-year-olds don’t get to make decisions!”

“You were able to do so at his age,” Qui-Gon had the nerve to reply.

“Because my Mother taught me how to be self-sufficient,” Anakin hissed. “Because I needed to be able to survive when she wasn’t there, because I was a _slave_ and not an innocent temple-raised youngling. I’m not letting your stupidity ruin a kid who adores you so obviously, _Master_.”

He couldn’t recall the last time he had been so angry. Not even when Maul had torn through countless innocents had Anakin felt enough rage to hurl _Master_ like the insult and accusation it was. He never should have attempted to forget the lessons of his childhood, to think he could trust another person who was so eager to have Anakin for the value he possessed.

“Anakin, where are you going?”

“I’m bringing Obi-Wan home!” Anakin shouted and stalked towards the nearest ship. He only turned around one last time. “And you better start praying he’s unharmed when I find him or I swear to all my gods, you will regret it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know when I first heard about Melida/Daan I assumed Obi-Wan was like 16ish. Not freaking 13. Who leaves a 13-year-old in an active war zone what the fuck Qui-Gon.  
> So, yeah. This is one of many reasons why Anakin won't ever trust his former Master with his future Padawans. Sure, he gets better, but stuff like this sticks with you.  
> But basically Anakin went through Deeply Traumatizing Stuff (like, you know, a Sith cutting off your arm) but came out on top, Qui-Gon decided his job was done, Anakin who was Very Much Not Okay felt abandoned and left alone by his father figure and projected that onto smol baby Padawan Obi-Wan. But now Obi-Wan got abandoned as well, not that he sees that this way. But he has no voting rights because he's freaking thirteen what the hell.


	21. Assassins Creed AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the 15th century, Vader, the Master Assassin turned Templar, is hunting down the remnants of the Assassin Brotherhood. In the 21st century, Anakin Skywalker is trying to differentiate between his own memories and those of his ancestor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings. Hints of Obianidala.

Ben really wanted to punch something, _someone_ , preferably Anakin Skywalker and his recklessness that had very nearly cost them their mission. Anakin had thankfully left the base to go blow off steam, dragging Ahsoka with him, and Ben‘s frustration knew no bounds.

“Why does he always have to put himself in the line of fire?” Ben asked. Ben could have died, yes, but their intel was more important than him, yet Anakin couldn’t see that.

“Vader.”

Ben nearly dropped his cup of tea when he heard Padmé’s voice. He’d forgotten the young historian was still here as she’d been sleeping.

“It’s because of Vader,” Padmé elaborated. She marched over to their mini fridge and took out a half eaten sandwich, then made her way over to her corner of their work room.

“Everything is always about Vader with Anakin.”

Padmé grimaced. “Well, yes. Of course it is.”

She glanced at Anakin and Ahsoka’s half of the room where the Animus hummed lowly. The sound had unnerved Ben in beginning, but he’d gotten used to it by now.

“That doesn’t explain why he saw it fit to abandon his position to aid me. We have a protocol for a reason, what’s the point if nobody follows it?”

Ben was one of the Assassins who had objected strongly to the Animus team joining the active mission rotation. Animus Subjects weren’t stable, they were a ticking time bomb, but Anakin had become one of their best operatives and the Brotherhood was always short on members.

“He does try,” Padmé said. “But you remind him of Obi-Wan and that makes things complicated.”

It wasn’t the first time that name had been dropped in Ben’s presence in the past weeks. Anakin called him by that name sometimes. More often than even that, though, he wept it at night when his nightmares took ahold of him.

To think that he reminded the remnants of Vader of the great Mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, his enemy for over two decades, was strange.

Ben didn’t understand. “But why?”

“Vader only ever spent a handful of years with Queen Amidala,” Padmé explained tiredly. “He loved her, but there’s enough... let’s call it _distance_ that Anakin can differentiate between Vader’s memories of her and his impression of me.”

Ben had seen paintings of Queen Amidala and Padmé did resemble her a little.

“But he can’t do the same with me and Obi-Wan?”

It was ridiculous. The shades haunting Anakin where dead for half a millennia.

Padmé only sighed and leaned forward in her chair.

“Ben, you look exactly like him. If Amidala was Vader’s heart, Obi-Wan was everything else. He knew him for decades, Obi-Wan even raised and trained Vader’s children. Vader didn’t know what to do with himself without his Master and Anakin...”

“Projects that onto me,” Ben finished. “So he keeps ignoring the mission for me in a way of satisfying Vader. Do I really look that much like Obi-Wan?”

Padmé snorted and reached for her laptop. “Yeah. We didn’t have any pictures of Mentor Kenobi, except for the few sketches from Fulcrum’s journals. Thanks to the Animus, we now know what Obi-Wan looked like. Hold up.”

Padmé quickly searched through her files and a moment later presented Ben a shot of a red-haired man sleeping on a sofa while a young girl, Fulcrum possibly, was sitting at his feet, cutting an apple with her hidden blade.

Fulcrum did remind Ben a little bit of Ahsoka, but their resemblance didn’t compare to Ben’s mirror image. Obi-Wan’s hair was a little longer and some strands were already graying, but otherwise they could be twins.

“We could check if he’s your ancestor,” Padmé said. “There were rumors that he was close to the Duchess of Mandalore and she had a nephew whose existence came pretty much out of nowhere as far as the history books are concerned.”

What use would that be? It wouldn’t stop Anakin’s hallucinations. They’d just have to see him get worse every time he got out of that machine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes! Here we go!  
> \- Anakin is the descendant of Vader, an Assassin turned Templar because his wife, Queen Amidala, was dying and the Templar grandmaster Sidious promised him access to a piece of eden (mystical deus ex Machina technology) to save her  
> \- Anakin, normal average engineering student, gets grabbed by Templars in the present who want Vader’s memories to find that tech  
> \- Padmé is a historian who had been captured by the Templars as well. She resembles Amidala, but is actually a descendant of the handmaid Sabé  
> \- Ahsoka is an Assassin technician who works on the Animus project and got the two of them out  
> \- Anakin, due to the horrible treatment of the Templars, has heavy and frequent Bleeding episodes where he absolutely can’t differentiate between his and Vader’s memories, but he manages to get a grip on it, at least somewhat, and their team of three gets put on the active mission rotation of the Assassins because Anakin has become one of their best due to Vader’s memories  
> \- shit goes down when Ben Jinn joins the team as their leader because he reminds Anakin so much of Obi-Wan, his Bleeding episodes get worse and worse.  
> \- Obi-Wan was Vader’s... well. Everything. His mentor, his partner, his love, his enemy, his greatest obsession.  
> \- And it’s not like Anakin is always caught in Vader’s memories and doesn’t have any feeling on his own. He loves Padmé for who she is, not the shadow of a queen. you don’t spent a yet together captured and don’t get out of it a little codependent. He’s had time to get used to her, but now there is the exact copy of “his”/Vader’s dead Master running around and Anakin can’t deal with both
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	22. Tyrant of Tatooine AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anakin was never found and ends up causing problems by freeing slaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like Anakin was never found AUs. They’re fun.

They call him the Tyrant of Tatooine, a warlord and a murderer. The word of Hutts and barely Republic planets shouldn’t be trusted, and, truth be told, given the chance Obi-Wan would arrest them on the spot for all the crimes they committed while the Republic looked away.

His Master’s obvious fury at working for slavers was the only reason Obi-Wan managed to get through the briefing. One of them needed to be calm and focused and if Qui-Gon would embody their displeasure, Obi-Wan could concentrate on the task at hand.

They were supposed to be Jedi, upholder of peace and justice in the Republic, and Obi-Wan resented how easily he got used to introducing himself as General first and Jedi second.

 _Dead or Alive_ , the Hutts had ordered.

Obi-Wan’s grip on his not yet ignited lightsaber tightened, but Tatooine’s Lord didn’t move into a defensive stance. Quietly and relatively good-natured he ushered the remaining children in the courtyard into the shadows of the palace.

“Told ya we should tackle the Republic next,” he said to his companion, a short blonde woman. “Slavers all of them.”

The woman was nervous, the blaster hanging from her belt was as much comfort to her as a warning for them.

“Brother, please, don’t aggravate them.”

The man smiled. “You know me, Beru. I’ll just tease them a little. Go tell Mother I’ll handle this.”

The woman, Beru, looked at her brother again, then sighed and left them too, mumbling under her breath.

“So,” Tatooine’s Tyrant said. “What brings you to my planet, gentleman?”

“We have orders to bring you in.”

Obi-Wan was surprised by how steady his voice sounded. This situation was wrong, he knew it. Qui-Gon was tense and Obi-Wan could vaguely tell that his Master was attempting to seek wisdom from the Force, some last-second way to change this situation.

“To enslave me again,” the man corrected Obi-Wan. “Who sent for my head? Hutts or Zyggeria?”

“It does not matter-“

Obi-Wan didn’t know what to call him. Addressing him by the title given to him didn’t feel right. The Jedi taught their young to always call things by their proper name, the truth.

Their target must have noticed the strange intonation of Obi-Wan’s sentence.

“They didn’t even tell you my name, did they?” He asked and _now_ Obi-Wan could feel it. Anger, bright and loud and furious. It was a storm, all-consuming and terrifying the way only a Force-user could be, but neither Ventress nor Dooku had been this bad.

Was he a Sith? A darksider for sure if he made use of his anger, and yet the Force was still clouded.

“Of course, they didn’t tell you.”

The anger receded, resignation took its place.

“Why bother remembering the name of a possession you will rebrand?”

The man shifted his stance to a more open one. It looked casual, like he wasn’t talking to an enemy but- Obi-Wan didn’t know what to call it.

“My name is Anakin Skywalker,” the man finally introduced himself.

 _Anakin_.

The name was soft, kind. It didn’t sound like a desert name, but it matched the man standing in front of him. Obi-Wan has expected a tall, looming figure, broad too, casting shadows you drowned in.

Not a young man with golden hair and bright eyes, the age of a senior Padawan, or a just-knighted Jedi.

“And who are you, Jedi?”


	23. Jedi Palpatine (AU)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which accidental time travel leaves Luke 80 years in the past and he figures with some good parenting, he can make Sheev Palpatine a model Jedi (and it works).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon typical violence. Get wrecked Darth Plagueis.

Luke had never been good at hating people _._ It took effort for him to actively hate somebody, to want to destroy them no matter the cost. Ben said it made him a good Jedi, Leia thought it meant he had a bleeding heart.

The only person Luke might have truly hated was the Emperor. So much suffering, so much death were his fault. There wasn’t a single person whose life hadn’t been ruined by him. It must be hate, Luke was sure.

But now he could only feel pity.

“They’re _dead_ ,” the child cried. “He killed them. He- _he_ -.”

The boy couldn’t be much older than twelve, maybe even younger. His clothes were covered in his family’s blood and his throat quickly turning blue from the abuse he’d suffered.

Luke could end it now. Prevent so much useless pain and death with just one hit with his lightsaber. Cut down the source of almost a century of pain as easily as he had slain his Master and yet-

“You’re safe now,” Luke said.

He crouched down and turned off his lightsaber. He had dealt with enough scared children since he’d joined the Alliance, the New Republic.

“He cannot hurt you anymore.”

The boy looked up at him with watery brown eyes.

“Who- Who are you?”

“Luke Skywalker-“ Kriff, should he have gone with a code name? Too late for that now. “-I’m a Jedi.”

Jedi, still known as peacekeepers, diplomats, teachers and mentors. They didn’t have a reputation as terrifying one-man armies yet. If Luke had anything to say about it, they also never would.

Regardless, the boy knew that Jedi were supposed to be good. As soon as the words had left Luke’s mouth, the boy flung himself into his arms and started to cry terribly.

“It’ll be alright,” Luke tried to soothe him and stood up.

He ensured that the boy’s face was hidden in Luke’s robes, that he wouldn’t see his parents’ or their killers’ body. He had suffered enough.

Luke left the Palpatine estate behind, the child still clinging to his robes, almost 80 years in a past that would never come to be now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've talked more about this AU right here [on my tumblr.](https://jasontoddiefor.tumblr.com/post/615734247089750016/p-hi-i-hope-i-dont-bother-you-i-just-read)


	24. Ahsoka raises the twins (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ahsoka raises the twins as Rebels and Luke and Leia turn out frighteningly competent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings apply.  
> Decided I might as well throw in any Tumblr prompts I receive in here instead of posting them somewhere else.

Their names were Luke and Leia and that was about one of the five constants they knew in their lives. The longest they had called one place home was six months and they kept trading their last names and hairstyles and clothes and accents and about everything else in their lives. Sometimes their first names weren’t even their own. Puberty hadn’t hit them yet and when you grew up living half your life in your twins’ mind, pretending to be their gender wasn’t that difficult. More often than not, it was Leia who had to pretend to be a boy, but Luke also kept his hair suitably long to braid it the same way his sister did it – curling it around two sharp sticks that could serve as deadly projectiles.

They were much stronger and deadly than they looked and took a lot of pride in that. It unsettled some of the Rebels they met, they thought it was unnerving when they smiled with identical grins or ran their training drills at a frightening speed.

Luke didn’t get why people disliked how close they were, Leia thought it was hilarious. They were still their own people with their own skills. Luke was better at flying, mechanics in general. Leia was the better liar and spy. Luke preferred dejarik, Leia enjoyed sabacc. Leia would always go for the white clothes when she could, Luke stuck to black. Luke thought meditating was calming, Leia would repeat katas until she dropped to the ground. Leia tried to give her ration bars flavor with pepper, Luke chose salt.

Both of them adored helping their big sister out on missions.

Both of them disliked it when she fought with Uncle Ben.

“They are _children_ , Ahsoka!” Ben hissed.

The two adults had been fighting for a while now, ever since they had come back from their last mission gathering Imperial intel and Ben had been waiting for them in their current hideout. Ben was leaving more and more lately, running errands for the Rebellion and taking on more responsibilities. They missed him, of course they did, but they were used to people leaving. Ben had only been with them for six years now while Ashla had raised them since they were babies. Shinies, Uncle Rex had called them.

“So was I!” Ashla shouted back. “I was a _child_ and you put me in charge of an army. I was hardly two years older than them. Taking them out on a harmless recon mission is nothing.”

Ben flinched and if his shields had been only a little steadier, Luke and Leia wouldn’t have picked up on the hurt. They weren’t even supposed to be listening in on the conversation, but they were done checking their ship for damage and had gotten bored.

“If Vader had seen them-“

“Oh, you mean from halfway across the galaxy? I’ve been raising them for twelve years, Obi-Wan. While you were busy mourning Skyguy, I was making sure they were fed and warm and knew how to stay safe.”

Beside Leia, Luke tensed. She settled her head on her brother’s shoulder and took his hand in hers.

“They’re saying things they don’t mean again,” Luke whispered.

“I know,” Leia replied. “Think they will stop soon?”

“They’re talking about Father again.”

That was as good an answer as any. Ashla and Ben told them things about their Father sometimes, but only ever to praise the twins about something they had done. Leia had their Father’s bright spirit and Luke his compassion.

(His name was Anakin Skywalker. They were supposed to tell Vader that if he ever captured them.)

But otherwise mentioning him guaranteed that one of them would stop talking pretty soon and just a few moments later, silence filled the base.

Ashla and Ben didn’t apologize to each other, at least not when the twins were in earshot. They say things like “I kept the twins in the ship” and “I didn’t even want to take them but leaving them was worse” and then things are alright again.

“Think we can start packing again?” Luke asked.

Leia nodded. “Yes, we’re moving bases again.”

“I hope it’s somewhere warm.”

“With a lot of trees.”

“And snacks?”

“All you can eat buffet.”

The two of them looked at each other, then began to laugh. So caught up in their own world, they didn’t even notice their guardians sticking their heads out of the room to look at the twins lying on the ground, shaking with laughter, looking painfully similar to Anakin Skywalker.

(Not that they would be told that for a very long time.)


	25. Temple Guardians AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin is the Guardian of the Coruscant Jedi Temple and when Darth Sidious orders the assault on the temple, he protects his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for Order 66.

His name was not Pygmalion and the sculpture he created was not called Galatea.

In fact, the sculpture was already completed and had been so for centuries. They called him the Guardian as his image stood right before the halls where the younglings grew up and played, seemingly watching over them.

It was tradition to spend at least one night at the Guardian’s feet, and Obi-Wan had sat there countless times when no amount of meditation could keep his nightmares away. Even later, as a Padawan, he had felt drawn to the place and could find his peace there. The Guardian always looked down, as if he were observing who decided to hide beneath his robes this time. It was almost ridiculous how safe a white marble sculpture could make you feel, especially since he wasn’t particularly tall. As a child, he’d seemed like a giant, but Obi-Wan knew the Guardian was not even a head taller than him nowadays.

And for all that their bond would be a story worth being titled a legend, it wasn’t Obi-Wan who had woken the Guardian up, no matter what others claimed.

The Guardian hadn’t needed Obi-Wan. His children were crying, he woke up entirely on his own.

The temple was covered in blood. So many Jedi, the old, the sick, the young, all of them dead. Amongst them laid the Clones, taken out by lightsabers. Fickle hope lead Obi-Wan to the temple’s heart. He hoped he wasn’t too late, begged the Force that the youngest of them, those too small to even think of holding a lightsaber, might have escaped at least.

The further Obi-Wan came, the less Jedi were among the dead. More and more dead Clones drenched the floors red until they seemed to be the only ones. Taking it as a good sign, Obi-Wan pushed himself further until he could hear the sound of a lightsaber cutting through the air.

He rushed around the corner, the crèche just ahead of him. The first thing he registered were the closed doors. The children were still safe then. Next he took in the sight of what must have been two squadrons before they had decided to raise their blasters against children and their Guardian had defended them.

Obi-Wan supposed that the reason he hadn’t immediately taken notice of the Jedi standing in the middle of this battlefield, was the fact that the man was right where he was supposed to be. His hair now wasn’t just an illusion of something soft, but actual golden locks. The kind eyes that had watched Obi-Wan fall asleep, were an icy blue, the color of his ‘saber.

All the stone had been replaced with skin and blood, he was alive.

“Obi-Wan,” the Guardian said, relief flashing over his face. “Are you hurt?”

He was not injured, but he could feel his people dying, being slaughtered by the beings they had considered family and-

“Let’s go,” the Guardian said. “We have to leave. More are coming.”

“How do you know?”

“This is my temple, nobody enters or leaves it without my knowledge. Now come, we must hurry if we want the younglings to survive.”

He was right. They had no time to waste. Obi-Wan followed the Guardian’s steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Basic idea!  
> \- Each Jedi temple actually has a "Guardian" and Anakin is Coruscant's. These Guardians are as old and powerful as the temples they protect.  
> \- Anakin and Obi-Wan and the younglings make it to Yavin where Luke is currently resting while Leia is grabbing her Corellian Jedi  
> \- No idea what else happens, but they probably go pick up more Jedi.


	26. Temple Guardians AU (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm. I like this AU. It's fun and gives me an excuse to worldbuild.

The temple on Yavin IV was old, overgrown, but Obi-Wan could feel the power running through the stone building. His Master had been fascinated by the temples their Order had to abandon with their declining numbers, but Obi-Wan had never shared that particular interest and paid much attention to Qui-Gon’s lectures. Of course, it would turn out that it would come back to haunt him.

The Guardian, _Anakin_ , hadn’t shared much about their future destination and Obi-Wan had been too caught up trying to keep the dozens of children calm to think about questioning him in-depth. They should be safe on the moon for a while at least. The Jedi had been terrible at keeping up with their temples, the newly risen Empire wouldn’t think to look for them here.

As they walked deeper into the building, everybody quieted down, observing their surroundings. The stone and many plants covering the walls made the temple a harsh contrast to the smooth white of the one they had grown up in. The younglings were all clinging to each other, the older children carrying the infants and toddlers, hands gripped tight. Anakin was walking at the back, keeping an eye out for any possible attackers. There had been many close calls in the past weeks, they were a rather large group, but they had made it out of all them so far, not one child lost.

Obi-Wan was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Then, suddenly, Obi-Wan saw something move in front of them. He signaled for the children to keep silent, prepare to head back to their ship.

“Who’s there?” Obi-Wan called, but the figure didn’t move.

He tensed and reached for his lightsaber, only to be stopped by Anakin. His companion had put his hand on Obi-Wan’s and shook his head. For the first time since they had met in flesh and blood, Anakin actually looked at peace.

“Luke, it’s me,” Anakin said.

One moment the figure in front of them stood still, then they came rushing at the group. Their hood fell off, revealing a young man with blonde hair. Anakin threw open his arms and pulled Luke into a hug.

“Father,” Luke breathed. “You made it. And so many younglings too!”

_Father_ \- Obi-Wan watched Luke and indeed, he could spot some similarities between him and Anakin. They had the same eyes, same chin and nose too, though Luke was much shorter than Anakin, even if he didn’t seem to be much younger in appearance at least.

But Anakin had been watching over Coruscant longer than Obi-Wan could imagine, he shouldn’t put too much stock into it.

Obi-Wan clipped his ‘saber to his belt again and watched Luke. He was bright in the Force, a burning sun like Anakin, but without all the harsh cuts. He felt trustworthy and a little like home in the same way Anakin did.

Luke let go of Anakin, smiling much more widely and joyful than Obi-Wan had seen anyone look like in years. He crouched down in front of the children hiding behind Obi-Wan’s robes and held out his hand.

Curiously, the bravest of them, a Kel Dor toddler named Pal Kaan, looked up to Anakin first and when he nodded to tell her that it was alright, she shyly took Luke’s hand.

“Hello, little Knight,” Luke greeted her warmly. “Welcome to my temple.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan is still kind of in shock. And also slightly overwhelmed.  
> No, I will not explain how they made it out of Coruscant with so many children. Idk and idc I'm here to write about the Jedi rebuilding in secret with the help of Skywalker Family Drama.  
> Either way, welcome to the Yavin IV temple and its friendly Guardian Luke.


	27. Temple Guardians AU (3) 31/05

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working my way through the list of "hey could we see more of this AU?"  
> Have fun!

Luke lead their group further into the temple all while holding conversation with the younglings brave enough to approach him. He told them about the paintings on the walls, the stained glass windows and each and every plant growing over the building. The entire temple felt like the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It was wholly bound in the Living Force and Obi-Wan was glad for how much it was grounding him at the moment. He couldn’t let his thoughts drift too far, but even now the Unifying Force was pulling at him, waiting for him to stop and listen to it.

“Where are we going, Master Luke?” A Togruta youngling asked the Guardian.

Luke looked down at the youngling and pointed straight ahead while answering. “First we’ll get you settled in the creché. Some of you look _very_ tired.”

“I’m not!” The youngling protested and promptly yawned, showing off their sharp canines.

Luke laughed in amusement and picked them up. “Of course, you’re not tired. But the toddlers might be and I’m sure the others are looking forward to meeting you.”

“Others?” Anakin spoke up, sounding honestly surprised and just as hopeful as Obi-Wan felt. “Has anybody else made it here?”

If other Jedi had made it here, perhaps not everything was lost. Obi-Wan doubted he’d ever be able to forget the sound of thousands of voices crying out in pain at the same, but if they had just this flicker of a chance, maybe he could bury it deep enough to march on.

Luke nodded and just for the split of a second, Obi-Wan could spot a flicker of distress washing through the Force. It disappeared so quickly that he would have thought he had imagined it, if not for Luke to sigh. His emotions were masked perfectly, likely not to distress the younglings, but he didn’t keep his body language as much in check.

It reminded Obi-Wan startlingly of Anakin. The Guardian was perfectly shielded in the Force, a Mastery not even Yoda had been capable of reaching. His body language on the other hand was all over the place as if he hadn’t had to think about it in a long time.

“You’re by far the biggest group,” Luke replied, “but yes, there are others. Ezra and Chirrut have both already come here. They’re currently settling their Jedi in the crèche and the Padawan rooms near it.”

Luke grimaced and playfully tickled the youngling he was holding. “Well, Chirrut is settling in his Jedi. Ezra is playing with the younglings. His group is mainly made up of Padawans with only some assorted Knights so he chose to stick to their age as well, Force knows why. I’m glad you are an adult at least, Father.”

“I haven’t been younger than this since you were born, Luke,” Anakin commented. Privately, Obi-Wan filed that information away for later. Anakin and he hadn’t really had much time to talk about anything at all. They had just barely covered the basics, enough to reassure Obi-Wan that he could trust the Guardian and had to rely on him. It wasn’t like there was any other option with so many children to watch over.

“Where are we sleeping?” Obi-Wan asked.

Luke had been right, the youngest of the group definitely needed to sleep, but all of them would benefit from resting.

“We decided to stick together in the core of the temple instead of spreading out, so you can pick any of the unoccupied rooms on the first level. It might be better if most of you stuck to the main sleeping hall. I only have a limited amount of pillows and blankets lying around.”

That wouldn’t be a trouble at all. Obi-Wan couldn’t really recall what it was like to sleep by himself.

They marched further through the halls until they finally came to a stop in front of two huge wooden doors. In front of those doors stood an empty stone pedestal with some rough carvings. All around it stood flowers, either picked or planted into some pots. It reminded Obi-Wan of the way Anakin used to stand in Coruscant’s rooms. He wondered if Luke had stood upon this podium once.

“This is the crèche,” Luke said and opened the doors with a wave of his hand. “Say hello to everyone.”

Obi-Wan was greeted by the sight of a couple teenagers running around. Most of them were injured in some way or another, bruises to broken bones, but all of them were alive still. The group looked up and immediately drifted to their middle in which a blue-haired boy stood. Obi-Wan would guess he was around fourteen.

He observed all of them, but quickly his eyes landed on Anakin and widened. Then he quickly jumped into a sprint and crashed into Anakin at full speed, wrapping his arms around him.

“Anakin!” He shouted. “You made it, thank the Force!”

Anakin blinked a few times before he returned the boy’s hug. “Of course, I did, Ezra. And I brought all my younglings and my best Master.”

_Ezra_ , the boy was another guardian then. He let go of Anakin and curiously eyed Obi-Wan.

“You’re Obi-Wan Kenobi,” he said matter of fact. “I’m glad to see you’re here. I’ve heard a lot about you!”

Obi-Wan raised a brow but didn’t get to ask the Guardian how he knew him as Anakin began talking.

“Ezra’s the Lothal Temple,” Anakin added. “When did you get here?”

“A month after the purge,” Ezra replied. “I had a couple run-ins with pirates and Depa’s condition was critical. Chirrut got here first though. That reminds me…”

Ezra turned to Luke. “Have you heard from Leia yet?”

Luke bit his lip and shook his head. “No. The last time I sensed her she was angry though.” Luke glanced at Anakin. “Angry like you can get.”

In all the weeks spent stuck together with Anakin yet, Obi-Wan had never seen the man actually be angry. Frustrated, yes, annoyed and upset too, but not angry. Obi-Wan distinctly got the impression that he was missing out on a whole conversation from the way Ezra sharply turned to Luke and Anakin evaded his son’s eyes.

“Leia’s not like me,” Anakin sighed. “But she has her mother’s temper.”

Luke snorted. “Forgive me, Father, but no matter how much you or Leia like to deny it, you two are very much alike. She reached out to me as soon as she woke up again, but her thoughts were a mess. I think she’s on her way here though. She might have some trouble getting off-planet. From what Ezra told me, Corellia is pretty closed off already.”

“You don’t know?” Obi-Wan asked.

Anakin had appeared to know exactly what was going on since he had woken up. Obi-Wan had assumed the same would be the case for Luke.

“I may have been awake for thirteen years already, but I haven’t set a foot off this moon and neither has my charge… but that is a discussion for another time. Let’s get all of you settled first and then we can start strategizing.”

Obi-Wan agreed and turned around to their group of children. The entire future of their Order was waiting for the sign that they could finally stop running, and this was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: am i introducing to many characters at once?  
> Me, but tired: nah  
> Also my birthday is tomorrow, June 1st. Wild.


	28. Temple Guardians AU (4) 21/07

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a kind ask on tumblr and was motivated.  
> Set 13 years before Order 66.

Luke didn’t know how many years had passed since he had last woken up. Too many, or so it seemed. He had always been a little different from the others, preferring to walk through the halls of his temple even when there was no great catastrophe abound. The Jedi were his home, his family, and yes, he was their Guardian, but wasn’t he also one of them, changed as he may be? When the last Knight had left his temple Luke had fallen into the longest and deepest sleep he had ever been in, right up until today. There were sentients in his temple, two of them not particularly remarkable in the Force, but the third one-

A child, a newborn who was so strong in the Force, it piqued Luke’s interest.

The two adults, their parents likely, were incredibly worried and exhausted. Luke felt no ill intent from them, only fear for themselves and beyond even that, their child. For a moment he contemplated whether he should just keep observing them, stuck in a state akin to meditation, but then his curiosity got the better of him. Centuries might have passed and Luke was _lonely_. There was no harm in talking to a group of travelers. It wasn’t like they could actually hurt him beyond shattering the very ground they were walking on and Luke doubted they had enough explosives on themselves to level his temple. He had already lost all his Jedi, there wasn’t much they could do to him.

He stepped from the stone pedestal he had been standing on and his robes turned into soft cotton. Unsurprisingly, little flowers had found their way into his tunics. Luke sighed, but made no effort to brush them off. He had spent a significantly large part of his childhood on a desert world and even after so many years in a jungle, he was still mesmerized by the greenery around him. He ran a hand through his hair, short and blond. His excitement must have picked a younger appearance.

Humming, Luke walked towards the direction he knew the group to be in. He _tried_ to take his time, but he knew he was rushing towards them. It had just been too long since he had talked to anyone. He found the group near the eastern entrance, lingering around the rooms that once were an impressive archive.

He calmed and slowed somewhat when approaching them. “Hello.”

The two adults jerked. Obviously, Luke still had been too silent. The woman pulled a blaster so Luke quickly raised his hands. “I am unharmed.”

She didn’t put down the blaster until the man, who was holding onto the bright child, motioned for her to do so.

“Can I help you?” Luke asked kindly. “Not many people get lost in here.”

“I- yes.” The man exchanged a worried look with the woman. “We are here to ask you for your help. You are the Guardian of this temple, aren’t you?”

Luke blinked. He hadn’t expected anybody to still know of him or his kind.

“I am,” he replied. He saw no point to lying. “What do you seek?”

“Protection,” the woman answered, relief seeping into her voice. “For our daughter.”

Luke smiled and opened up his arms in invitation. “That’s exactly what I am here for more. My name is Luke. Who are you?”

The two humans exchanged a look.

“It’s better if you don’t know,” the man said. “We don’t- we don’t matter, she does.”

Luke stepped closer to the man, slow enough that he could stop Luke any time, but he didn’t. He was nervous, held his breath. His terror was apparent, but he wasn’t scared of Luke. Afraid for him, maybe.

“May I?” Luke asked.

The man hesitated, then he gave Luke his daughter. She was a small thing, but so warm and adorable. Luke hadn’t known how much he had missed the presence of another being until he was holding her to his chest. “What is her name?”

“Rey,” the woman answered. “Her name is Rey and we were hoping you would take her in, teach and raise her.”

That they wouldn’t be here for it was clear, even if she didn’t say so. Luke frowned and studied the pair.

“Why?”

“Because you can, because there is darkness out there in the galaxy and she needs to be safe and far away from it all. Will you protect her?”

Luke didn’t have to think twice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hands up - who had already guessed who Luke's "charge" actually was?


	29. Suburbs and Crime AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin Skywalker was the former enforcer of the Sidious, a ruthless crime lord. Now in witness protection, he maneuvers garage sales, kindergarten, and the local amateur gangs. And sometimes, when Luke and Leia are busy baking mud cakes in the garden, he even has time to flirt with his rather attractive neighbor Obi-Wan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No warnings, just fluff and crack treated seriously.  
> Written for my BFF!

Four years ago, Anakin Lars hadn’t thought he’d ever end up living in some white-picket-fence suburban neighborhood. Hell, two months ago he hadn’t even entertained the thought that he might actually get to experience what the average Coruscant citizen might view as normal. But he also hadn’t been Anakin Lars then, only Anakin Skywalker at best and Darth Vader at worst. He wasn’t on the run anymore or praying that the government decided his information wasn’t good enough to let him keep his children.

He was just a single father with two adorable children, driving them home from kindergarten in a freaking SUV. Granted, it was an already tuned SUV because he wouldn’t be caught dead in such a car – the windows weren’t even bulletproof – but it was still such a weirdly middle-class car. Anakin had never been stuck in something like that, only ever the fastest cars Palpatine’s money had been able to buy.

But that was years ago.

Now Anakin would make noodles for lunch and then he’d think of ways to entertain two four-year-olds until their bedtime. He parked the car in their garage and waited for Luke and Leia to get out as well while he took the groceries out of the trunk. When he had bought the child seats, the seller had assured him that the twins wouldn’t be able to get out of it on their own. It had taken Leia three days to prove him wrong and Luke another two.

“And we played catch with Ezra,” Leia said as they walked over to the front door. “Ezra is fun.”

“So you like kindergarten now?” Anakin asked.

Leia’s face scrunched up and she immediately grabbed his hand. “No, I want to stay with Daddy.”

Surprisingly, Luke had thrown less of a fuss about going to kindergarten then Leia. He was the clingier child usually, always needed Anakin or Leia in his sights and hated sleeping alone. Every night he’d move into Leia’s bed or drag his sister with him into Anakin’s. He’d read in some parenting forums that he should discourage such behavior, but Anakin only had half as many nightmares when he wasn’t alone, so he really didn’t feel like stopping the two of them. Leia was more independent, curious, tested her limits every day and asked “Why?” until he had to start googling for answers, yet getting her ready in the morning was still an ordeal every other day. Where Luke had quickly integrated with the other kids, Leia had not. It was nothing unusual apparently, Anakin had not yet failed entirely as a parent, but hearing that she liked at least one kid that was not Luke still calmed him.

“Daddy, daddy, look!” Luke pulled excitedly at Anakin’s other arm and pointed towards his left. “Mr. Obi-Wan is back! Hello, Mr. Obi-Wan!”

True to his son’s words, their neighbor was apparently also returning home right now, parking his bike right next to his meticulously cared for hydrangea bushes. Anakin wasn’t exactly sure what Obi-Wan’s job was, but the man kept some odd hours and was home quite often during lunch time when Anakin was cooking for the twins.

Obi-Wan looked up and smiled one of his stupidly handsome smiles Anakin kind of wished he could just forget about.

“Hello, Luke,” Obi-Wan greeted. “How are you going today?”

Luke glanced up at Anakin and when he nodded, the four-year-old rushed over to the fence separating the two properties, trampling through the not yet planted vegetable plots.

“I’m good! Daddy’s gonna make his special chocolate cookies today. Do you want one?”

Anakin had not in fact planned on making cookies today and was just about to remind Luke that they had been planning on eating healthy for the remainder of the week, when Obi-Wan already agreed that he’d been honored to try one.

“But we don’t have any chocolate!” Leia shouted and then promptly decided to involve herself and Anakin the conversation by pulling her father over to Luke.

She would know, given that she had raided their entire stash yesterday, earning herself a stomach ache.

“Oh, no!” Obi-Wan said, faking shock. “No chocolate at all?”

“No chocolate,” Leia replied seriously while Luke nodded.

Obi-Wan crossed his arms in front of his chest and pretended to consider the situation very deeply. It made Anakin smile to see someone go along so easily with the twins’ antics. To be fair, most of the people he’d met in the neighborhood so far seemed kind and helpful. Plo Koon, who lived across the street together with his daughter Ahsoka, had shown up multiple times with home-cooked meals already, offering to help Anakin out with the twins should he ever need a break. But still, Obi-Wan was not someone who knew how difficult dealing with kids on your own was, he was just that nice.

“I believe I still have some chocolate in my kitchen,” Obi-Wan finally said. “If you want to, you can have it.”

“Really?” The twins exclaimed in unison. “Daddy, please, can we?”

“So now you ask me, huh?” Anakin grinned. “Well, I don’t know. What are you going to give Obi-Wan in turn.”

“Two cookies,” Leia said immediately.

“Only two?”

“Maybe three?” Luke offered. “And Mr. Obi-Wan can decorate the cookies.”

“I take it that decorating is a very important part of the baking process?”

The twins both shook their head. “The importantest.”

“Most important,” Anakin corrected lightly. “We’ll eat lunch now and then get started in an hour, if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure, I don’t have another shift today, unless there’s an emergency,” Obi-Wan replied. “I’ll bring the chocolate over then.”

“Until later then.”

The twins waved Obi-Wan goodbye and proceeded to tell Anakin how many cookies they were going to make today, claiming impossibly high numbers. It wasn’t until he was putting the groceries in the fridge that Anakin realized he’d just invited Obi-Wan over to his house to bake together with his children.

Was that strange? Anakin had no idea, the closest he’d come to have another adult in his space spending time with him and his children in the past years was showing Agent Vos that he could, in fact, cook for the twins and had been taught how to do more than kill another human person.

He had no idea what to do.

He needed to call Quinlan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Okay so, Anakin was raised by Sidious as his best enforcer and heir. He decided that he wanted out and be with his family, Sidious was having none of that and killed Padmé when the twins were born  
> \- Anakin now just raises the twins and accidentally starts getting involved with whatever troubles are going on here, trying to make sure the neighborhood is actually a safe and happy place  
> \- Obi-Wan is actually a detective but has no idea Anakin is #1 target of one of the worst crime lords around  
> \- Quinlan is Obi-Wan's childhood friend and the Agent in charge of the Sidious operation and making sure Anakin does not go rogue again. Currently living his best life enabling their relationship  
> \- Sidious is scheming in the background trying to find his wayward apprentice  
> \- entire cast is here tbh, will add info as I go


	30. Suburbs and Crime AU (2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set a couple months after the first one shot for this series.

Family meant everything to Dooku. It was the reason he supported Qui-Gon when his son decided to become a florist and take in the three terrors he called his children. Like any good grandparent, Dooku invested in Feemor’s little bookshop, quite pleased when the store became popular, paid the bail and defended Xanatos in court when he fell in with the wrong people and tolerated Obi-Wan dropping out of university to become a cop of all things, even if he had become the CPD’s star detective.

Dooku was patient and he loved his family, but it took all his willpower not to shut the door in Obi-Wan’s face when he saw who exactly his mystery boyfriend was.

But perhaps to understand _why_ Dooku nearly screamed bloody murder when he saw seemingly innocent Anakin Lars standing in front of him, we need to start at the beginning, which would be the week before The Confrontation.

Qui-Gon, much to his family’s annoyance at times, insisted on monthly family dinners. They usually took place on the first Saturday of the month and every time they’d all meet up in one place, one person cooking for the rest of them. This time, it was Feemor’s turn. Now, Feemor owned a little bookshop in an alley right off the city’s main shopping district. He dealt in second-hand books and was quite favored by desperate and broke students. He, out of everyone, was also the only one who actually knew his youngest brother had a boyfriend because Obi-Wan had more or less stormed his shop to ask for appropriate children’s books for five-year-old twins. This particular conversation had ended with Feemor giving his younger brother a stack of books and catching a glimpse of his phone background displaying a smiling blond man with two laughing children thrown over his shoulders.

Then, a couple of weeks later, the aforementioned blond man walked into the shop, accompanying Obi-Wan. In Feemor’s opinion, Anakin Lars was a charming man and suited his brother well. He was happy for the two and due to that fact, was chosen to be the person to introduce the rest of their family to the Larses.

So, one week before the Confrontation, Feemor let it slip that Obi-Wan would be bringing guests with him. He told Xanatos first because for that he liked to act like a rebel and Dooku pretended to be the embodiment of high society, both were fairly similar when it came to their reactions.

Xanatos thought it was hilarious that Obi-Wan had a secret boyfriend like he was a high schooler and not a grown man in his thirties with a mortgage. The only reason he didn’t go bother Obi-Wan about it immediately was the fact that he knew for sure his younger brother wasn’t above blackmail. From Xanatos’s reaction, Feemor concluded that their grandfather would probably be alright.

Their father would be alright with it, probably start celebrating and begin planning a wedding. Feemor didn’t want a relationship and Xanatos wasn’t the kind of guy who wanted kids, but since Obi-Wan managed to score both at the same time, he was guaranteed to be the favorite child for yet another ten years. So Feemor decided to inform Qui-Gon and Dooku both, asking them to stick to the “no talk about work, the economy, politics and all things that usually end with us fighting” rule even more than usual and give Obi-Wan and his boyfriend some space and not bother them beforehand.

He only texted Obi-Wan back to ask whether Anakin and the twins had any food preferences or intolerances and assured him that everything would be alright.

Now, to return to the starting point: Dooku loved his family and he enjoyed his work, a reason he often fought with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was probably one of the few people working for the police who actually did it to help others. Dooku, on the other hand, was a lawyer who preferred handling difficult cases. Sometimes, that meant protecting people who definitely had committed the crime they’d been accused of.

Hence there being a rule forbidding talking about work.

Dooku had a large variety of criminals, one of them being the notorious mobster Grievous who had managed to escape a prison sentence again and again due to Dooku’s rhetoric skills, forcing Obi-Wan to apprehend him again and again. Currently, he actually was in jail because even Dooku couldn’t act like holding a gun to someone’s head wasn’t a serious or falsified threat. And maybe he was also a little too proud of Obi-Wan for arresting Grievous the last time.

Nevertheless, this pride was the reason Dooku did not run a background check on Anakin Lars. He trusted his grandson to be dating an upstanding citizen.

He did not expect to open the door to Darth Vader, holding nervously onto a bottle of wine while two excited children were blabbering and pushed fairly quickly past Dooku’s legs since they had spotted Feemor behind him.

Dooku, of course, knew about Darth Vader. Every high caliber lawyer dealing with organized crime actually knew of him. He’d been Sidious’s terror and then, five years ago, his greatest betrayer. The bounty on his head was unreasonably high and there were countless rumors about why Vader had blown Sidious’s operations wide open. He’d never appeared to be a person, merely as a shadow hiding behind the mask Sidious forced him to wear whenever he was acting as his enforcer.

Dooku, however, had actually seen Vader once without the mask. It had been almost ten years ago now, and only by accident. Dooku had been shocked then that Vader was only a teenager, nineteen at most, and he’d never forget staring at those bright eyes while the kid told him to leave his cut off arm behind for a quicker get-away.

Normal people didn’t shrug off losing an arm, but Vader had.

It had been also the last time Dooku had allowed himself to get so close to Sidious. Dooku had been more than thankful Sidious had been put behind bars just a few years later.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared him for seeing Vader on the doorstep of grandson #1, and apparently dating grandson #3.

He felt like he deserved a medal for subtly hinting at Obi-Wan to go greet the rest of the family while he had some words with his boyfriend.

“Obi-Wan, go talk to your father.”

Obi-Wan sighed. “Good evening to you too, grandfather. This is Anakin Lars, my boyfriend.”

“I know, now go, boy.”

Obi-Wan muttered an apology to his boyfriend, glared at Dooku, but for once in his life actually listened and went to collect Vader’s utterly adorable children. Vader tracked Obi-Wan’s movements with his eyes, then turned to Dooku.

“What _the hell_ are you doing here?”

What indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tfw your grandson's boyfriend turns out to be a terrifying former criminal and you can't even call him out on it because you worked for his adopted father and are the reason he lost an arm. Listen, I just thought it would be hilarious if Dooku and Anakin knew each other and then were forced to sit through an entire dinner.
> 
> \- Qui-Gon owns a small flower shop and adopted all three of his foster kids.  
> \- By the way, Obi-Wan is 35, Xanatos 38 and Feemor 43


	31. Suburbs and Crime AU (3) 29/06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how you all said “I want more of this” meaning the dinner scene and I said “cool I can do that” but instead write about Anakin’s horrifying childhood. TW for gaslighting, blood, guns and child abuse. This is definitely more of a M rating. Anakin is around 13 here I'd say.
> 
> For those who want to avoid the bad stuff of this AU and are only here for the hilarious obikin dating, read up to "They were going to the basement now." Synopsis at the bottom.

For the tenth time in the past five minutes, Anakin checked his appearance again. He was wearing shoes, despite being indoors and had polished them as well. He had put on his new suit, all black, and tied his wine-red tie himself. His hair was brushed and neatly cut, his homework finished, his chores completed and he had even finished his small personal projects he couldn’t wait to show off.

“You look good, Anakin,” his governess told him. “No need to keep fussing.”

He nodded, but couldn’t stop tugging at his shirt either way. He put his hands behind his back and tried to focus on the door. Finally, after hours, it opened and two bodyguards and the head of their household returned after weeks away.

“Welcome home, Master,” the governess said and bowed formally.

Anakin copied her to the best of his abilities. When he looked up again, Sheev Palpatine was smiling fondly at him.

“Thank you for the warm welcome. And Anakin, you have grown so much. Truly, the photos don’t show it.”

Anakin beamed up at the older man. “Thank you,” he said. Then, collecting all his bravery, he added, “Father.”

Sheev looked stunned for a moment, then he smiled and the next moment, with far greater strength than you’d expect, lifted Anakin into his arms. Anakin couldn’t help laughing. He had been so scared to address the other man by that title. He had practiced in front of the mirror for ages and yet, whenever he had spoken to him, the words had been stuck in his throat.

“I am very glad to hear that, Anakin,” Sheev said warmly. “Come, tell me about your day.”

Sheev set him to the ground again, but took his hand instead. He listened patiently as Anakin explained his course work and that he hadn’t just finally caught up to the education of other children his age, he had surpassed them. His tutors had let him advance easily. By the time Anakin had finished narrating, his cheeks hurt from smiling so much and the sky had turned dark.

“It has become much later than I anticipated,” Sheev said. “I believe it is time for you to go to bed.”

Anakin pouted. He didn’t want to sleep yet. His father was leaving again in a week, Anakin wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

“Just five more minutes? Please?” He begged.

“My boy, I’m not sure-“

A knock against the door interrupted Sheev. He frowned for a moment, but then called the person inside.

A tall man, one of the bodyguards, entered the room. He glanced at Anakin and put his hands behind his back as he began to speak. “Sir, the threat has been questioned. We are awaiting instructions.”

Sheev leaned back in his chair, suddenly much more serious.

_A threat,_ something dangerous must have happened.

“Is he here?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

Sheev looked away from the bodyguard to study Anakin. Anakin had lost his suit jacket and his tie and since they had spent the afternoon outside in the warm summer sun, he had also pushed up his sleeves.

“Anakin, do you want to help me?” Sheev finally asked. His voice sounded strange in Anakin’s ears.

“Y-yes?” Anakin answered hesitantly. “Of course.”

“Then let’s go.”

Anakin took Sheev’s hand once more and let his feather lead him through the building. Anakin’s room was on the top floor and he could reach the garage where he was allowed to build to his heart’s content from the windowsill by jumping down. His governess hadn’t been too pleased with him the first time he’d done it, but Sheev had only laughed and called it good training. Anakin preferred the high and illuminated rooms. They were so very different from the cramped apartment he’d had to share with his mother. He never went into the basement here, it brought up bad memories.

They were going to the basement now.

Anakin’s hold on Sheev’s hand tightened just a little as the walls began closing in on him. They walked down the long corridor until they reached a door.

“I need you to stay silent,” Sheev told him, then the bodyguard opened the door.

Sheev guided him inside when Anakin was confused by the sight in front of him. Two more men in suits were standing at the back of the room while a third was shackled to a chair that was bolted to the floor. He had a split lip and was deathly pale. Bloodstains ruined his already torn clothes.

As soon as he spotted Sheev, he started begging. “Please, please, I didn’t- they threatened my daughter- please.”

He was shut up by one of the bodyguards.

“This man,” Sheev said very slowly, “was going to hurt me, Anakin. Do you understand that?”

Anakin nodded. His throat closed up. He didn’t want to be down here. He wanted to go upstairs again, hide in his bed and forget all about it.

“He lied and talked to the wrong people. He would have taken me away from you the same way you lost your mother. Hurt me worse than Watto ever hurt her.”

He froze.

The terrible memories of Watto beating him and causing his mother pain rushed to the surface them the bottom of the deep well Anakin had buried them in. He hadn’t been able to save his mother, he couldn’t even save himself. He still woke up screaming and crying sometimes, dreaming of pressing his hands down on his mother’s wounds while her blood welled up beneath his fingers.

“Do you want to protect me, Anakin? This will make you strong.”

Anakin watched as Sheev took the gun that was lying innocently on a table to the side and gave it to Anakin. The weapon was shaking uncontrollably in his hands. It was cold, almost freezing to his touch. He had expected it to burn.

“It’s very easy, child,” Sheev said and put his hands over Anakin’s, guiding them upwards.

The man in front of them sobbed.

“You aim straight at the head.”

The barrel of the gun aligned with the man’s forehead. Anakin’s eyesight was impeccable, better than that of the average human. He had great aim too, remembering how well he was doing when he played basketball or tennis or badminton or golf. Sheev was always so proud of Anakin when he scored a point. He praised him.

He cared about Anakin. He _did_.

He had saved him after his mother’s death, he had taken Anakin in and given him a big, warm and comfortable home. He listened to Anakin’s rambles, he gave him gifts and enjoyed it when Anakin sat in his office with him and did his homework while he was working. They ate ice cream together even after the governess had told Anakin to brush his teeth, winked at him and called it ‘their little secret’.

He loved Anakin.

Anakin was his _son_.

He should do his duty and be a good child. That other man had wanted to kill Sheev, he deserved to die the same way the men who had hurt his mother had deserved to die.

“And now you pull the trigger.”

Sheev pressed down on Anakin’s finger and Anakin closed his eyes on instinct as he heard the shot rang out and the man’s screaming ceded.

“Well done, child,” Sheev praised and gently ran his hand through Anakin’s hair. “You saved me. You did a good thing.”

Anakin turned around and buried his head in Sheev’s coat before he could see the dead body in front of him. He wanted to cry and throw up and scream and hide away, but most importantly, he just wanted to be upstairs and safe again.

“Clean up the body,” Sheev ordered his men, then wrapped his arm around Anakin’s shoulders. “You’ve done so well, Anakin. It was a perfect shot, I’m very proud of you. I always knew you were special, but today you’ve proven it. We will make a great man out of you.”

And Anakin nodded along, incapable of doing anything else.

He wanted to be a great man. He had to be.

If he was useless, his father wouldn’t want him anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! this is chapter 40 already wow!
> 
> Synopsis:  
> They go to the basement where Anakin sees an already heavily injured man chained to a chair. The man starts begging. Sheev manipulates Anakin - who was forced to witness his mother's murder - and sets him into panic/distress. He gives Anakin a gun and then helps him push the trigger, killing the man.  
> And this is how you start grooming your future asset. You tell him you love him and everybody who is a threat must be eliminated.


	32. Sith Disaster Lineage AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan Kenobi was not so much seduced to the Dark Side of the Force as that he decided even Darth Vader deserved his compassion and Falling was the only option he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a thing for Anakin not being raised by the Jedi.  
> Obikin, TW for Anakin’s terrible childhood being raised by Sidious. Partial Fix-it. I mean, they’d kill Sidious but everything still kind of hurts.

The last lesson her Jedi Master taught Ahsoka was about falling. The other Jedi looked at her with pity in their eyes, Master Yoda even took it upon himself to instruct her. She supposed he saw it as some kind of personal failure that every last member of his lineage was either dead or a Sith. Just the two of them were left and Ahsoka had always been too rash, too emotional and too angry for a Jedi. It had been the reason Obi-Wan had picked her as his Padawan in the first place when nobody else had wanted her.

“You will be a great Knight, Padawan Tano,” the Council told her in the same breath they damned Obi-Wan.

They spoke of promises of power, seduction to the dark side and Vader devouring all of her Master’s light. Ahsoka didn’t know why she hadn’t told them that his name was Anakin Skywalker and that he didn’t have a single seductive bone in his body. Ahsoka would know given that she had spent a few very intense hours stuck in a tiny cell together with a delirious Vader playing sabacc.

In the end, falling was a choice, it wasn’t something that could be forced upon you. You could be guided towards it for sure. Ahsoka had learned that particular lesson when Anakin had talked about his childhood spent at his Sith Master’s throne. Guidance towards the dark meant that he had been given the order to kill everyone his Master put in front of him so he’d be allowed to see his mother. But in the end, it had been his own choice to give himself to the darkness. Ahsoka wondered if that was why Sidious was hunting Anakin down now. He had pushed and pushed and _pushed_ , but Anakin had only really, truly fallen when his mother had died in his arms.

But all these lessons were the reason Ahsoka knew that her Master hadn’t been forced to drown.

He had done this to himself and Darth Vader was not to blame, not in the way the Council was so eager too. Obi-Wan Kenobi had just always felt too strongly. He could be compassionate for the broken shards of glass, the burning supernova that was Anakin Skywalker. And when he realized he couldn’t fix decades of torture and choked down tears, he decided to take it a step further.

“I never wanted this for you, Ahsoka,” her Master said, his voice even and sad.

Obi-Wan’s eyes were golden now and the color suited him surprisingly well. She’d miss the vibrant blue of before, but she would be able to get used to it.

Anakin was standing right behind him, terrifying as ever, but she knew he wouldn’t harm her. After years of meeting on the battlefield, she was aware of all his forms, the way his mech-hand would twitch before he threw himself into a fight.

“I know,” Ahsoka replied and spoke the truth.

Falling was a choice and she had made hers. She was her Master’s student after all and it was her job to learn everything he could teach her, and Ahsoka admittedly didn’t know much about the Sith besides the fact that their fighting style suited the predator inside her much better.

X

_(This was too short to be its own chapter but I liked the dialogue. Set a couple weeks after the first scene.)_

“Before you kill, you need to close yourself off from the Force,” Anakin told her as if he were talking about the weather.

“What?” Ahsoka froze.

Anakin got up from his seat and walked over to her, stepped uncomfortably close. His sense of personal space was strange, non-existent at times. She couldn’t tell whether that was because he perceived Ahsoka and Obi-Wan as an extension of himself or because Sidious had beaten any of such comforts out of Anakin’s mind. He put his hands over Ahsoka’s and guided her lightsabers towards his own throat. So close to his skin, prolonged exposure would burn him. Ahsoka had powered her ‘sabers down for training, but only minimally.

“This,” Anakin said, "is when you need to cut the connection. The Jedi don’t teach you this because they weren’t taught to kill.”

Ahsoka wanted to protest. She had been told from a young age on how dangerous combat was, that lightsabers weren’t toys but weapons meant to defend-

_Oh_.

“You’ll go mad if you keep remembering every life you took. The stronger you are in the Force, the more does it vibrate in your mind when you hurt somebody else. Good shields help, but only temporarily. Someday it’ll all catch up to you and it won’t be pretty.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

Ahsoka hadn’t meant to blurt that out, but before she could apologize, Anakin just shook his head and gently pushed her ‘sabers aside.

“No, Sidious just liked to keep me on suppressants as a kid. Deprive me and then give me a taste of it all again. You can’t make someone addicted to the Force, but you can put them through withdrawal. If you are the person who decides it, it just gets a little easier. Now, do you even know how to cut the connection?”

“No.”

Why would she? It was the greatest treasure of every Jedi and not following the Force, even just for the fraction of a moment, bordered on heretical.

“Then I’ll teach you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea was honestly wondering about all the Sith Obi-Wan seducing Anakin to the dark side fanfics. I love them but wondered - it wouldn't work the other way around. At least not the way I characterize these two because Anakin's flirting skills just suck. He might however just be so pitiful and full of pain that Obi-Wan might want to fix it. Idk, that's what I think at least.  
> Other things uuuh, first time writing Ahsoka's POV so that was fun.
> 
> Oh yeah. Plot. Uhm, they all go kill Sidious during Order 66? Ahsoka and Anakin bond over the shared childhood trauma that is growing up in a war? Obi-Wan maybe becomes Emperor? Idk but at one point the Jedi confront the three.


	33. Clone Wars Padawan AU (1) (23/05)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Clone Wars start ten years ahead of schedule and Commander Cody has to make sure that not only his brothers make it through the war, but also his General and his painfully young Padawan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> decided to add dates to the chapter titles so when I start moving, you'll know when I uploaded it.  
> No ships, only found family tropes all around. Partial fix-it probably. Basically Clone Wars but with post TPM Anakin and Obi-Wan.  
> Slight warnings for Anakin nearly having a panic attack

Cody had tried his damned best to avoid thinking about what Jedi would be assigned to his battalion since Grievous had slaughtered the last one. When it was finally time to meet his new superior officers, Kenobi and Skywalker, Cody recognized that he had subconsciously created an image of what he wanted for his men and it was not those two.

The taller of the two was young and his copper hair was neatly cut. Much like the child next to him, he was hardly wearing any armor.

“My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, I’ll be your General for the foreseeable future. This,” Kenobi put his hand on the back of the small child next to him, ”is my Padawan learner Anakin Skywalker.”

Whichever words Cody was going to say originally were stuck in his throat. The small Jedi barely reached Kenobi’s waist. He was short and scrawny, looked much younger than any other Padawan Cody had encountered so far, but braid whose tips were just touching his shoulders clearly identified him as one.

Cody was going to be sick.

The Padawan looked like he was no older than maybe a five-year-old cadet. They couldn’t be taking a child out on the battlefield. Nobody would think of sending a cadet his age out to fight and Skywalker was supposed to become their Commander? He had heard plenty about the Jedi’s strange and unbelievable actions already, their strength hidden beneath a calm demeanor, but the thought of following such a little Commander didn’t sit well with him.

“Pleased to meet you,” Skywalker said and did a stiff bow.

His accent caught Cody off-guard. Most Jedi, when their vocal cords allowed it, spoke proper clear Coruscanti Basic. Skywalker’s words slurred together, even though he was obviously trying not to let them.

“Pleased to meet you as well, General, Commander,” Cody replied. “The 212th and 501st are at your command. Captain Rex is currently in charge of ensuring the remaining Troopers of the 501st are recovering. The current plan is that the 212th will take them in.”

Cody had to make sure somebody briefed Rex on the fact that they had not lucked out like Woffle when it came to their Jedi before he took one look at Kenobi and deserted. Rex had taken a hard hit when he’d lost most of his brothers to Pong Krell’s treachery and Cody wasn’t too sure he’d go along with their newest Jedi’s orders when he felt like the men were threatened.

“Commander?” Skywalker echoed slowly before he looked up at Kenobi in what Cody could only describe as panic. “Obi-Wan, you said I’d only have to follow you, I can’t-“

“Calm down, Anakin.”

Kenobi crouched down in front of Anakin and put his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Everything will be alright, I promise.”

The boy didn’t look assured. He was fiddling with the hems of his tunic and only stopped when Kenobi took his hands in his own.

“Repeat after me Anakin. I am one with the Force-“

“-and the Force is with me,” the boy muttered.

He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he had managed to get his fidgeting under control. Kenobi stood up again and Skywalker reached for his robes as a way to ground himself. It looked like he was in deep concentration.

“Commander Cody, could you spare some men to show Anakin around the ship?” Kenobi asked. “I believe it would be best if he familiarized himself quickly with it and I doubt he wants to listen to the boring adult talk when there are the hangers to inspect?”

Kenobi looked at Skywalker, who slowly shook his head. He was still holding onto Kenobi’s robe and only reluctantly let go of it, but at the prospect of seeing the hangers, his eyes lit up. “Yes, Ma- Obi-Wan.”

Cody nodded and turned to the two Troopers standing near the door. “Backtrack, Ton, show Padawan Skywalker our ship.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Skywalker followed the two men out of the conference room, shooting Kenobi one last look, then they were gone. The moment he was out of the room, Kenobi’s stance changed. When before he had seemed to be the perfect picture of serenity, exhaustion and something akin to anger took over his posture.

“May I speak frankly, Commander?” Kenobi asked.

“Of course, Sir,” Cody replied.

“Good, thank you.” Kenobi took a deep breath and a few moments passed before he had collected himself enough to start speaking.

“Neither Anakin nor I am supposed to be here and personally I am not sure whether I am qualified to lead this battalion. I know that Anakin isn’t. I’ve only been a Knight for two years and Anakin has been my Padawan ever since. If not for the War, I’m not sure we’d even be out on field missions yet, but more and more Jedi are dying every day and the Council and Senate have deemed it necessary to send out as many Knights as possible.”

From the way Kenobi said Council, Cody gathered that he had not approved of this idea in any way. If this Jedi recognized how messed up their current decision was, then perhaps he was a better man than Cody had given him credit for.

“So that means while in official capacity Anakin is your Commander, he is not allowed to make any decisions. I’ll be relying heavily on you and Captain Rex. It would be extremely helpful if you could give me a list of all Troopers in leadership positions as well so I can familiarize myself with how your men operate. I’ll likely be fighting at the front with you and I’m not sure how often I can ensure Anakin’s safety so if you are ever forced to choose between him and the mission, pick him.”

The words startled Cody. They were said with so much assurance, an iron will that he hadn’t expected. Jedi were notorious for putting their lives at stake for the sake of the mission, but the way Kenobi spoke left no room for argument.

“Understood, Sir,” Cody replied. “I’ll do my absolute best and I won’t disappoint you.”

Kenobi smiled mirthlessly. “I hope I’ll be worth the faith you put in me, Commander.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right so how did this AU start?  
> \- I wanted the clones to meet baby Padawan Anakin  
> \- I keep wondering about Anakin calling Ahsoka "too young" for war with her 14, so I'm assuming that usually Padawans don't start combat missions until they're like 15ish (except if you're Obi-Wan bc Qui-Gon's parenting obviously failed here).  
> \- So here basically AOT happened roughly a year after TPM, which means Anakin is about 12ish in this chapter to Obi-Wan's 27. Due to the many Jedi dying, Obi-Wan - despite protesting heavily - and Anakin get put on the front. Anakin is not ready. He recently lost his arm (yes, I'm making Dooku cut off the arm of a 12-year-old) and only had a couple months of training under his belt. Needless to say, Obi-Wan is stressed, Cody is stressed and every Clone Trooper is ready to die for this small kid. Sure hope this doesn't leave any mental scarring on a child :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	34. Clone Wars Padawan (2) 14/06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set after S3E2 the battle for Kamino

They left Kamino with too many brothers dead and injured, too many cadets that shouldn’t be fighting yet, but had been pulled into the war already. Anakin hated it. He tried to let go of his anger like Obi-Wan had taught him, but he couldn’t help feeling frustrated. They were supposed to be ending this war, free the galaxy of tyranny and all the bad guys, but all they ever seemed to be doing was bury their dead, and not even that. Back on Tatooine they also hadn’t always been able to burn the dead as it was custom either. Sometimes Masters sold the bodies of their slaves for organs or other stuff. But this was the Republic and the clones were theirs to protect and look after. Anakin knew that life wasn’t fair and he was doing well enough – even Obi-Wan said so! – but this battle had been so different from the others. Somehow it was worse because it hadn’t been just Jedi and Troopers cleaning up the dead, but also all the cadets. They were only half as old as Anakin but they had looked like they were his age. The worst thing was probably looking into their faces. They all seemed to expect something grand from him, but Anakin had nearly gotten himself killed fighting Ventress while Obi-Wan was busy with Grievous. It was horrible, somehow the two of them always ran into him. Well, Obi-Wan was the one who ran into Grievous. Anakin had never met him, but Cody and Rex had described him and he sounded terrifying and not like somebody Obi-Wan should ever fight on his own.  
All those cadets must have thought the same about Anakin. He shouldn’t be fighting, he’d get them all killed. And who was Anakin kidding? So many men had passed away already while Anakin had been helpless.

A knock against his door pulled Anakin out of this thoughts. “Come in,” Anakin called.

The door opened and Fives entered. “Sir!”

He saluted, then dropped the serious posture. “Padawan Skywalker, I was wondering whether you’d like to accompany me down to Ink’s rooms.”

Anakin’s eyes widened. Ink was the clone who was, as his name said, responsible for the ink on board of the ship. That meant mainly the tattoo ink. Obi-Wan had strictly forbidden Anakin from getting a tattoo, even though Anakin really wanted one. He was free now, it was tradition. Barriss had tattoos as well and Ahsoka had really cool face-markings that should totally qualify as a tattoo.

Anakin decided to be responsible. “Obi-Wan said I’m not allowed to get a tattoo.”

Fives laughed and messed up Anakin’s hair. “I know, I know. The Shinies are painting their armor though and I thought you’d like to make some suggestions.

“Oh.”

Anakin hadn’t expected that. He wanted to disagree at first, he should be going over his data pads, try to catch up to the studies he was missing back at the temple. He was already so much behind and shouldn’t fall back even more. Then again, he hadn’t even been looking at the datapads before.

“I’d like that,” Anakin agreed. “Are they good?”

“Eh.” Fives shrugged. “Some rough corners, but nothing we can’t smooth over. We take all the crazy ones, remember?”

Anakin grinned, truly and honestly for the first time since they had left Kamino. “Yeah! We should check if they’re ARC Trooper material like you and Echo.”

He playfully knocked his elbow against Fives’s waist and ducked when the clone tried to retaliate.

“You want to make them run Rex’s parkour? You’re _evil_ , verd’ika.”

Smiling, Anakin ran ahead of Fives. “I can run it and best Rex’s time. They’re twice as big as me, they should be able to keep up.”

“Or get used to the quality the 501st demands?” Fives finished his thought.

Anakin nodded seriously.

Fives had joined the 212th/501st only after the battalions were already under Obi-Wan’s command, but he’d picked up pretty quickly on how they divided their troops. 501st blue for the out-of-the-box, crazy, _why would you ever do that, Anakin?_ kind of clones and 212th orange for the rest. Rex took great pride in their kind of special forces, even if it was nothing official. Thinking about it, they really didn’t do much by the books, but their system was working.  
  
“Strongest and best looking battalion of the entire GAR,” Anakin decided.  
  
Fives smiled in turn. “Count me in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how 501st and 212th are basically one unit? They decided 501st are all those clones who are just “well fuck the rules then” enough to be the best when it comes to Anakin wrangling. They’re not glorified babysitters, those are literally the people you want around an 11 year old in the middle of a war zone.


	35. Clone Wars Padawan AU (3) 17/06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you love it when you get hit by Force lightning and then your teeny tiny Padawan decides "wow now would be a good time to disobey orders and face a Sith Lord"?  
> Aka Dooku vs. Kenobi & Skywalker 1

_"Get away from my Master!”_

Obi-Wan understood that Anakin was immensely powerful. His Padawan was so bright in the Force, it was overwhelming at times. He had always known that Anakin had the capabilities to be dangerous. It was the impression he’d gained on Tatooine, seeing that black hole of power, all that unused potential. But in the end, all Jedi were dangerous, Anakin was no exception to the rule.

Until now.

His Padawan, whose ‘saber stances were good, but nowhere near the level of any other temple-raised youngling, was standing protectively in front of Obi-Wan, two lightsabers in his hands. Anakin, who was supposed to be _hiding_ , stay safe and keep away from Dooku, was utterly submerged in the Force. Obi-Wan had only experienced that sensation himself once when he had been fighting the Sith Lord on Naboo last year. He knew plenty of Jedi could go through their entire lives without ever being forced to open their connection to the Force so widely. It was dangerous, life-threatening in fact. Anakin shouldn’t be doing it, yet here he was.

Looking like terror given human form.

He’d never practiced Jar’Kai with Anakin, they were still working on only the most basic stances, but he supposed Anakin must have seen it executed somewhere as he was copying one of its defensive stances. It wasn’t correct, Obi-Wan’s saber couldn’t fit Anakin’s hold, and yet he looked ready to take any and all hits meant for his Master.

Dooku only regraded Anakin with disbelief.

“What have you been teaching the boy?”

“Anakin, run!” Obi-Wan forced himself to say, muscle spams and the aftershocks of Force-lightning still shaking him to the Core.

He couldn’t take Dooku like this, he couldn’t protect Anakin-

“I’m not leaving you behind,” Anakin said. “You _promised_. We’re a _team_.”

 _I’m your Master,_ Obi-Wan wanted to shout back. _You’re supposed to leave me behind_.

This was all his fault. He never should have accepted that mission back to Naboo and let all the chaos that followed allow to affect them. He should have let the Council take Anakin away, give him to somebody who could actually teach him and would have ensured he’d survive today.

“You should have accepted my offer, Obi-Wan,” Dooku said and readied his blade.

Obi-Wan felt sick. He hadn’t been able to do anything against Dooku, his Padawan wouldn’t stand a chance. Terror claws at his inside, ugly darkness welling up as he watched the horror unfold in front of him. Dooku used to be a Jedi Master once, this was his lineage, how could he raise his blade against a child-

And Anakin _screamed_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan had 10 years less of training. He doesn't stand a chance against Dooku in Ep. 2. You think this Obi-Wan would?  
> Haven't written the full scene bc eh wasn't interested but basically Obi-Wan told Anakin to run away, Anakin "Abandonment Issues bigger than the Republic and I already have one parent stuck in slavery I'm not losing this one too" Skywalker was Not Happy With That.  
> And then he lost an arm, as you do.


	36. Mandalorian Skywalkers (1) 26/05

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shmi Skywalker’s mother was a free spirit, took her daughter with her on trips away from Concord Dawn. Years later Shmi attempted to raise her son the same way, Resol’nare and Tatooine’s wisdom alike.  
> Or the one where Shmi is Jango’s older half-sister, Obi-Wan is raising a Mandalorian Padawan and Palpatine’s plans gets ruined because four-year-old Boba Fett loves his cousin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mixed my two fave Star Wars things: chaotic Anakin Skywalker & Mandalorians

The day history was changed, Obi-Wan was in deep conversation with Master Windu and desperately looking for a way to get out of the talk. The older Master had approached him about Anakin and the weekly reports Obi-Wan wrote on his Padawan’s development. The constant oversight was starting to annoy Obi-Wan. He needed help with Anakin, yes, but the blond boy was still _his_ Padawan and Anakin was advancing at a frightening speed. Qui-Gin had been right, Anakin was meant to be a Jedi and Obi-Wan was sure he’d be guided towards Knighthood without everybody breathing down his neck.

“Master Windu, I understand-“

“Knight Kenobi!”

When Obi-Wan had hoped for a distraction, but not an obviously upset crèchemaster dragging Anakin behind him. His Padawan was scowling and Obi-Wan already knew tonight’s meditation session would likely escalate into either another spar or holomovie night.

“Master Teres,” Obi-Wan greeted politely. “How can I help you?”

“You can help me by ensuring Padawan Skywalker gets a competent Master who is able to properly address is previous education.”

Obi-Wan froze. Master Teres hadn’t been supportive of him taking on Anakin from the very first day, but the other man had never been this hostile. Next to Obi-Wan, even Mace frowned.

“Those are heavy accusations, Master,” Mace said and glanced at Anakin still standing behind the crèchemaster, his head held up high. “What incidents have led to this?”

“What incidents?” Teres echoed. “All of them. It is obvious that Knight Kenobi-“

“Stop talking badly about Obi-Wan!”

The three adults glanced at Anakin. The Padawan was standing up straight and determination burned like embers behind his eyes. Obi-Wan would appreciate his student standing up for him if he wasn’t so emotional about it right out her in the open.

“Anakin-“ he began to say, but the youngling just interrupted him.

“No! I did exactly as you said and tried to compare my new lessons to stuff I already know and Teres-“

“Master Teres, Anakin.”

“-said I was wrong! That it’s _he-re-ti-cal!”_

Obi-Wan had taught Anakin how to draw contrasts and comparisons between the Jedi believes and those Anakin had grown up with. The Council had even congratulated him on his clever approach. Anakin learned much better when he only had to put old lessons into the context of Jedi philosophies.

Obi-Wan crouched down to the level of his upset Padawan.

“I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding,” he told him.

“It is most certainly not-“

Obi-Wan shot the crèchemaster a look and focused on Anakin again.

“Can you tell me what you talked about?”

“We were talking about what all Jedi believe in. Stuff like peace, helping each other and so on,” Anakin answered.

He started playing with the hems of his sleeves and waited for a moment for Obi-Wan to reassure him he was correct. Obi-Wan gave him a slight push over their bond and Anakin continued on.

“And I said that it kinda sounds like Resol’nare.”

“What?”

Master Teres looked smugly as Obi-Wan momentarily lost control of his expression.

“Where have you learned that word, Padawan Skywalker?” Mace asked.

Even though he had kept his expression neutral, there was certainly interest in his voice.

Obi-Wan had no idea either. Mandalore and it’s history weren’t discussed in class until the children were thirteen.

“My Mother taught me,” Anakin answered easily. “ _Ba'jur bal beskar'gam, Ara'nov, aliit, Mando'a bal Mand'alor- An vencuyan mhi._ Education and armor, self-defense, our clan, our language and our leader - All help us survive”

It occurred to Obi-Wan then that Anakin didn’t have even a hint of an accent. His Mando’a was flawless.

“Anakin, why do you know that?” Obi-Wan asked.

Now it was Anakin’s turn to confused. “Because it’s our creed? Mom doesn’t remember much about home, but she did try to teach me all she remembered.”

“You’re Mandalorian,” Mace said and Obi-Wan was almost glad the Council member sounded as shocked as he felt.

“Well, yeah,” Anakin replied. “What else am I supposed to be?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so plot:  
> \- Shmi is Jango’s older half-sister. On a trip away from the planet with her mother, they get captured which is how she ended up as a slave  
> \- TPM happens as canon does. It never occurs to Anakin to inform Obi-Wan he’s Mandalorian because Everybody Who Has The Force Can Be A Jedi Right? Obi-Wan is stressed af but thank god for the year he spent on the run with Satine  
> \- Not quite sure yet how Jango learns of his sister and nephew. With the disaster duo’s luck, they probably run into Jango on like a mission. Hardcore bounty hunter and Anakin just fanboys because _is that real beskar? Oh gosh that’s so cool_  
>  \- Jango probably attempts to kidnapp Anakin a couple times. Boba loves his cousin/big brother.  
> \- Also Shmi frees herself because I _need_ badass Shmi touring the galaxy on her own, searching for a family she barely remembers. Also she’s Force-sensitive  
> \- the Clones and Anakin are closer and also Force-sensitive clones because we were robbed.


	37. Mandalorian Skywalkers (2) 28/05

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway, Jango, Arla and Shmi's parents were poly because I dislike cheating.

Her name was Shmi Fett and she was the oldest daughter of her family. She had a younger sister, Arla, whose hair was blonde and eyes bright. They both took after their mothers, and didn’t look much like their father. Shmi’s new brother though, small and cute and helpless little Jango looked entirely like their father. He had the same dark hair and eyes and sometimes Shmi dreamed of a future where her brother’s face was that of thousands and thousands brave soldiers. She was sure he would be great someday, that the whole galaxy would know his name.

She just hoped the galaxy would know her name as well.

Shmi didn’t want to work for the government like her father or take care of the farm like her mother. Both of them did their jobs dutiful of course and they were important, but Shmi wanted to be just like her mom: a pilot, discovering new planets and suns and asteroids. She wanted to fight glorious battles and prove herself to be a brave warrior as well.

Her mother called Shmi’s vibrancy _wanderlust_ , always with amusement coloring her voice. She said that it was the same feeling that pushed her mom away for weeks at a time, exploring space in her ship.

Shmi _loved_ her mom’s ship. The _Skywalker_ was the fastest ship on all of Concord Dawn. It was silver and had many green and orange stripes. Her mom had told her once what all the colors of the galaxy meant, but Shmi hadn’t quite understood it. She was sure she’d learn it all someday, she’d have to teach her little siblings someday after all. Even if Arla was only a few months younger than her, she was still younger than Shmi. And Jango certainly would have to be taught about it and then at the latest Shmi had to have it all figured out.

For now, she was content to join her mom on a week-long trip. She had been excited about it for moths. She had begged so very often and her parents had never allowed her to go with her mom. But now Shmi was already six and her mother was no longer pregnant with baby Jango, so her mom had caved in. She’d promised Shmi one short trip, just the two of them amongst the stars.

On her last day of Concord Dawn for what would be decades, Shmi Fett kissed her little brother goodbye. She hugged her little sister tightly and threw her arms around her mother and her father. When she was done, she took her mom’s hand and followed her onto the ship.

Her mom was a stunning figure, wearing her beskar’gam. The armor was painted in the same colors as her ship and Shmi was certain she’d never be able to forget it. She sat tightly in the copilot seat as her mom started the ship and then it was off the ground and soon after they had left the planet behind and Shmi was staring in the vast expanses of space.

This was where she belonged, she knew it.

She could feel the warmth of so many suns of her skin, hear planets breaking apart and see the stardust travel to so far unknown regions.

She never wanted to forget this sight and truthfully, she never would.

The memories would be tainted by pirates breaking into the ship, shooting their blasters at her mom. Shmi would be forced to watch as they searched the ship for anything valuable, took the beskar and joked about the price it would fetch them on the black market. When everything became too much and Shmi couldn’t even listen to the advice of the voice that whispered oh so sweetly to her so very often, she began to cry. The pirates of course heard her quiet sobbing and ripped open the cupboard she was hiding in. They pushed her past her mother’s dead body and shouted at her to cease her crying.

They would put an invisible collar around her throat, a tiny chip in her leg that would blow her up. And then they put her to work. They pushed Shmi through the vents of their ship until she was too big to fit through them, then they kept her only a little longer because she was good with droids and finally bought two new kids to replace her soon. They were wide-eyed and terrified as she had once been, so young too.

Shmi could still remember her childhood in frightening clarity, but she hadn’t known she’d ever been as small as the two of them.

She told them the same things her predecessor had told her. Keep silent, take the beatings, eat the scraps, learn all you know, never give them your true name. As long as they didn’t know your true name, they didn’t own all of you.

And if you didn’t have a second name, pick one thing you knew you adored so every time they called your name, you were reminded of your deepest wishes and freedom.

Shmi Fett had ceased to be out of necessity, in-between the boarding bridge of two ships.

Shmi Skywalker was born in space in a filthy pirate ship with anger in her bones.

Her son would be born in the very same way. All alone with her, stuck on a slave transport out of Republic Space. He’d come into the world crying and raging against the injustice done to him and Shmi would attempt to soothe him the best she could, humming songs and reciting old rhymes.

“Gar gai Anakin Fett,” Shmi’d tell her newborn in hushed whispers. “Aruetiise urmankalae gar Skywalker.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 11 pm and I have class in the morning but I had the desperate urge to write 1000 words about how Shmi became a slave.  
> I was surprised how many people enjoyed this AU???? I guess I hit a lack of fanfics with this one huh.  
> But anyway! Some more thoughts:  
> \- Force-sensitive kids remember their childhood way better than anyone else and no this is not just an excuse to ensure Shmi knows Mando'a as an adult. She's telling Anakin "Your name is Anakin Fett. Outsiders know you as Skywalker"  
> \- Anakin definitely doesn't grow up traditionally because Shmi was six and spent most of her life as a slave. So both cultures kind of mix for them, creating a wonderful chaos e.g. naming tradition. (Good thing ships are not the focus here bc if I would throw in Anidala and My Thoughts about Naboo naming customs, you'd be forced to sit through a whole essay on why Padmé and Anakin would fight about the twins's last name(s).)
> 
> And, because some people asked: YES I absolutely take prompts/suggestions for these AUs!  
> The reason I started this collection was mainly that wanted a place to put all my stray AU thoughts to see whether they're worth pursuing (and bc I am too lazy to upload separate stories so often). So, please, if you have any suggestions or requests, leave them! Might take me a while to write them because I kind of write this when inspiration strikes, but I'll get to it!


	38. Mandalorian Skywalkers AU (3) 05/06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set when Anakin is 15, roughly a year after meeting Jango (yes, I'll write that too I'll get there I promise)  
> Inspired by the fact that I just spent an entire afternoon continuing to craft Din’s helmet.

Anakin ducked beneath the blaster shot, slid across the floor, jumped up, side-stepped and aimed for his uncle’s head. Jango evaded him easily and hit the hollow of Anakin’s knee, forcing him to the ground. Anakin caught himself with one hand and lashed out with the other, a mad grin flashing over his face. He adored sparring with his uncle. Jango had pretty much taken over his entire hand-to-hand combat education, which meant that spars with Obi-Wan were much more ‘saber focused. Every once in a while, Anakin managed to surprise his Master by pulling a move out of Jango’s repertoire. He hadn’t yet managed to best his Master, but Anakin wasn’t even a senior Padawan yet. He still had a couple of years left until he had to give his Master serious troubles when fighting.

“Ke’sur’ar, Anakin!” Jango ordered.

“I am!” Anakin replied and got to his feet again.

Jango only raised his brow, clearly not impressed, but Anakin wasn’t fooled. In the Force, Jango was shining with undisguised pride and happiness. Anakin repeated the attack once more, this time evading Jango’s legs.

“Kandosii!” Jango praised. “You are improving quickly. Perhaps that jetii of yours does teach you well enough.”

“Obi-Wan is the best,” Anakin replied. “And it’s been three weeks, I should get back to the temple, I’ve got an exam coming up.”

Jango only shook his head with a sigh and grabbed one of the water bottles to toss it to Anakin. Eagerly, he opened it up and drunk from it before tossing the rest of the water over his red head. Fighting was exhausting.

“Then Kenobi should hurry up tracking you down, those are the rules,” Jango commented.

Anakin was fairly sure that seeing who could go the longest with Anakin by his side weren’t exactly rules but the world’s most complicated custody agreement, but he had given up on trying to mediate between Jango and Obi-Wan. They were both the same kind of stubborn. Next time Anakin saw his mother, he’d ask her to talk with them, she always got people to go along with her suggestions.

“He’s almost here,” Anakin spoke up again. “Two days away at best, I can sense him already. I could just go meet him halfway.”

“So quick to get rid of us, kid?”

“No!” Anakin protested. “I just- these exams are really important, I can’t flunk them and I haven't studied for them at all in the past weeks. T’Seely has been studying for months already.”

Jango quieted and studied Anakin attentively.

“I have a gift for you,” Jango said suddenly. “Boba, go get Anakin’s dinui.”

The five-year-old jumped up from his seat and rushed over to the shelf to pick out a package wrapped in brown flimsi. Anakin hadn’t even taken notice of it before, though he really should have. Jango kept the Slave I rather neat given Boba’s age, even if the child knew better than to get into his father’s weapon collection.

“For you!” Boba held out the package and Anakin accepted it. “Vor’e.”

It was rather heavy. Anakin shook it a couple times for good measure, then open it carefully. One layer of paper revealed the next one, until he spotted something silvery. Anakin looked up to Jango.

“This isn’t-“

“Open your present.”

Anakin tore off the remaining flimsi, revealing a shiny shoulder guard. “That’s real beskar, isn’t it?”

The question was unnecessary. Anakin had spent hours staring at Jango’s armor, he might be a little obsessed with it. Point was, he knew his metals and this was beskar, definitely. It just seemed too good to be true.

“It is,” Jango confirmed. “I believe it is time you start collecting your own ar-“

Anakin didn’t let his uncle finish his sentence, he rushed forward and pulled him into a hug. Finally, he was old enough for it, had proven himself worthy.

“Ori'vor'e, ba‘vodu,” Anakin muttered into Jango’s chest.

Jango put his arms around Anakin and Boba, obviously delighted by the show of affection, joined in with a squeal. Laughing, Jango pulled his son up so he was stuck right in-between the two.

“Ba'gedet'ye, An’ika.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anakin getting beskar'gam? more likely than you think.  
> His is gonna be black and red I'm thinking.  
> Mando'a translations  
> Ke'sur'ar - (imperative) Focus!  
> Kandosii - Well done!  
> Dinui - gift  
> Vor'e - Thanks  
> Ori'vor'e, ba‘vodu - Thanks a lot, uncle  
> Ba'gedet'ye, An’ika - You're welcome, Anakin (lit. little Anakin, affectionate nickname)


	39. Mandalorian Skywalkers AU (4) 06/06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter and I'm moving this AU to a separate story.  
> I present to you: Anakin & Ahsoka's first meeting during the Clone Wars.

Ahsoka’s arrival at Christophsis hadn’t been as smooth as she’d hoped it would be. Her new Master hadn’t even known she was going to be there. Ahsoka wasn’t the first Initiate that had been assigned to a Master instead of going through the traditional choosing process, but she’d hoped Anakin would have had some influence in the decision-making process and hadn’t found out about her from herself. At least Ahsoka had made it to the battlefield, she hadn’t ever been so far from the peace and homey feeling of the Temple. Anakin wasn’t too keen on her, his thoughts obviously occupied with the battle in front of him, but she’d convince him, starting by taking out that shield generator.

“Okay, alright, fine,” Anakin muttered. “Where’s your armor?”

Ahsoka looked down at herself. She was wearing standard Jedi tunics. Okay, they’d been a little modified, but that was only because Ahsoka enjoyed the greater maneuverability and ran a couple degrees hotter than humans. She didn’t get cold as quickly.

“I’m fine as I am,” she replied.

Togruta skin was also a little thicker. She didn’t bruise as easily and it took a lot for her to get seriously injured. Her new Master, apparently, wasn’t too fond of her reply as he looked like he was about to have a stroke. Next to him, Obi-Wan was just smiling in glee.

“Fine as you-“ Anakin shook his head. “No, really, I mean it, youngling. Where is your armor?”

“I don’t have any.”

Ahsoka crossed her arms in front of her chest. Honestly, she didn’t get why it was such an issue. They had a shield generator to take care of!

“Don’t tell me Yoda-“

“Master Yoda, Anakin,” Obi-Wan threw in, but Anakin ignored it.

“-sent you here without any armor!? You’re _not_ going into that fight looking like this.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Ahsoka huffed.

“Your stomach isn’t covered, neither is your chest, your shoulders, your neck and your arms. Do you have any idea how much damage even one blaster shot can do? You’re fresh out of the crèche, you haven’t experienced real battle, you can’t go out fighting like this.”

Ahsoka supposed that compared to Obi-Wan, Anakin or the clones, her apparel was more civilian like. The clones’ heavy armor was already the image of every war propaganda poster and most Jedi had opted for some sort of gear, even Master Kenobi. It wasn’t much, but Ahsoka hadn’t really thought about it before. Anakin was, of course, on a whole other level. His armor was famous even back at the temple. It wasn’t one of the many standard mass-produced ones, not bulky at all but rather smooth, made for speed she supposed. The metal was painted in black and red with the exception of the shoulder plates, on which one thick blue stripe had been painted. It made Anakin look _dangerous_.

“Not everyone is as concerned about armor as you are, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said on her behalf, or so Ahsoka hoped. She needed to be a part of this mission!

Anakin quickly turned to his Master, a finger pointed at him. “You! Don’t even get me started, you’re a walking danger hazard and one of these days you’ll get a blaster shot to the stomach and I won’t patch you up. But Ahsoka can’t go out fighting like that. Rex, do we have anything that could fit her?”

The Captain shook his head. “No, Sir.”

“Damn it.”

Anakin studied Ahsoka like he was trying to measure her. Then he muttered something she couldn’t understand but made Rex and Obi-Wan snort. He stripped out of his tabard, revealing the chest plate underneath.

“Arms up,” he ordered.

“What?” Ahsoka asked, but did as told.

Anakin draped his tabard over her head. It was heavier than expected, not just simple synthleather then. He made quick work of wrapping the tunic around her shoulders, cross her stomach and securing it around her back.

“There, best we can do right now,” he said when he was finished. “Baffleweave and chrosmasheath mix, reinforced with some synthleather. This is not an adequate replacement for proper armor, but it’ll have to do.”

It felt a little strange so Ahsoka did some experimental turns. It would work for now, especially if it meant that she was allowed to accompany Anakin.

“Thank you, Master. I’m ready.”

Anakin looked like he wanted to say something else, but then just motioned for her to come along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, Anakin is really, really, annoyed of how Obi-Wan's armor is more for decor than anything else. He nags a lot. As per Jango Fett's School For Battles And More _Do Not Go Out Fighting In A Bathrobe Or So Help Me Anakin_.  
> But at least Obi-Wan is somewhat protected. Ahsoka's Season 1 design gives me nightmares alright. Anakin's first stop after this battle is getting his new baby Padawan something to wear for combat.  
> And Anakin adds blue strips to his shoulders after becoming General of the 501st, he wants to match with his cousins!!!  
> Generally speaking, I suppose Anakin dresses somewhat like this [guy here](https://pin.it/5bzFWoy) but without the bucket.  
> Thanks for reading! Hope you had fun!


	40. Mandalorian Skywalkers AU (5) 20/08

Anakin was pretty sure that this mission was the one that would finally lead to Obi-Wan snapping at the Council, taking Anakin and going on a very pleasant vacation on a nice planet like Naboo for an undecided duration.

The mission had been supposed to be peaceful. Not necessarily an easy negotiation between two rival parties, especially not now that Anakin had passed his Intro to Diplomacy II course, but peaceful still. There hadn’t been supposed to be any attacks. After their last quite disastrous mission, Obi-Wan had made it clear that he wanted their next to be better so Anakin wouldn’t end up thinking being a Jedi was nothing but combat or something, never mind that he was still too young for active combat mission actually.

He thought it was kind of weird Jedi didn’t purposefully send anyone under the age of fifteen into battle, but it made him feel loved to know that Obi-Wan didn’t want him to face even more pain.

So, once they’d be back home on Coruscant, Obi-Wan was bound to throw a hissy fit since an explosive charge had all but very nearly blown up Anakin’s face. His tunics were partly torched and he’d have to take a closer look at his lightsaber first before he dared to ignite it. There were no terrorists supposed to be opposing the negotiations, and yet Anakin had found himself right in the middle of such an attack. They had struck the center of a marketplace Obi-Wan and he had been strolling through, absolute hut’uune.

Swearing under his breath, Anakin attempted to get out of the mess. Retract from the chaos first, observe, then decide how to help, those were the rules.

Or guidelines.

Anakin really preferred to think of them as guidelines.

In the surrounding panic, Obi-Wan had gotten separated from Anakin. He was still here somewhere, Anakin could feel his presence, but he couldn’t see him.

“Fuck, fuck, osik,” he cursed, trailing from Basic to Mando’a as his worries grew. He tended to slip the less he focused. Obi-Wan still liked to hold the morning he was so tired from studying he had spoken his native language during breakfast over his head, all in good fun though. He was actually quite pleased Anakin was a polyglot.

Not that it mattered much when he was about to get blown to pieces.

Right, reorganize.

Anakin took off into the direction away from the smoke, hoping that it was the right decision, and began to look for people who needed his help escaping. There were blaster shots soaring through the air, driving Anakin’s senses nuts. What kind of arseholes targeted civilians?

He felt it before he saw it.

There was a kid in front of him, one moment standing there, the next they were on the ground, and yet they were standing still because the blaster shot hadn’t hit them yet-

Anakin pulled at the Force, at them, swiftly tearing the child away from its spot just a split second before the blaster now hit dusty ground. The kid crashed into his arms and immediately began to struggle.

“Woah, it’s fine,” Anakin said and ducked beneath another shot. “I’m a Jedi, I’m one of the good guys.”

The kid tensed and looked at Anakin with his big round eyes, awfully suspicious for a child of that age. But at least they had stopped struggling and were now only watching Anakin in curiosity. Okay, there was a kid without parents in Anakin’s arms. Obviously, he had found his new mission prerogative. He needed to get the child, honestly they couldn’t be older than four, somewhere safe.

“It’ll be alright,” Anakin said. “Let’s get you somewhere safe and find your parents, okay?”

In a better situation, he would have waited for the kid to nod and give his consent, but they were kind of busy in the middle of a war zone, so Anakin settled on just holding onto them and rushing off. Evens streets away from the chaos, people were still running, crying and screaming as law enforcement attempted to move in to diffuse the situation.

Anakin wished he could do more. He was supposed to be able to do more, he was a Jedi after all.

But every life saved, even if it was just one, was precious. So Anakin held onto the child and stormed away. After a couple minutes in a sprint, he fell back into a jog and stopped somewhere a little further away from all the chaos. He stepped into a side-alley where hopefully it would all be okay to take a breath.

“I’ll let you down now, alright?” Anakin told the child. He didn’t even know if they spoke Basic but he could the feeling they at least understood what he meant. “Don’t run off. It’s dangerous.”

He set the child to the ground again and, when he saw that they didn’t run off, Anakin leaned out of the alley to catch a look at his surroundings. It was better than on the market place, but not pretty. And in some distance to the direction he had come from, he could see even more smoke rising.

“Bastards targeted more than one place,” Anakin muttered, fiddling with the hems of his robes. “Ge’hutuun-“

“You speak Mando’a?” The kid fired off so quickly, if Anakin hadn’t been paying attention to them, he would have missed it.

Anakin looked down at the child. They were still looking at him with their wide brown eyes, but there was no distrust to see. If anything, they seemed almost hopeful.

“Uh, yeah, I’m Mandalorian,” Anakin answered in kind. He hadn’t spoken Mando’a with a lot of people in the recent years. The whole situation was bizarre. “Name’s Anakin Skywalker.”

“But you’re a Jedi!”

“I’m both,” Anakin said with a shrug. He understood that the history between both groups wasn’t exactly great, but that wasn’t going to stop him from being who he was. “And who are you?”

“Father said not to tell anybody my name,” the kid replied and then immediately began to tremble.

Anakin had spent enough time in the creche to know how a child about to start crying looked like. He crouched down next to the kid and reassuringly put a hand on their shoulder.

“We’ll find your parent, I promise. Hey, how about I tell you some stories about my adventures with my Master until everything has calmed down? They’re pretty awesome, I promise.”

The child hesitated, then they finally nodded.

“Okay, good,” Anakin said. “Then, how about I tell you the story of how the great Obi-Wan Kenobi singlehandedly saved an entire village from a terrible fate? Would you like that…?” Anakin trailed off, hoping the kid was already to enamored to be stressed.

“Boba,” the child finally replied. “I’m Boba.”

“Cool! Well then, Boba, it all started two years ago after my first mission…”

And all around them the world became smaller.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF MANDALORIAN SKYWALKERS I WILL POST HERE!  
> THIS STORY IS MOVING TO [IT'S OWN STORY!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000278/chapters/63214939)


	41. Worldbuilding (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Worldbuilding: From naming conventions on Tatooine and Naboo to color meanings on Alderaan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of you were interested in my essay about why Anakin and Padmé would fight about the twins’ last names so here it is!

**Tatooine**

Naming conventions on Tatooine vary, so I’ll focus on the ones slaves adhere to, given that’s what Anakin knows. Generally speaking, "Children follow the mother”. If your mother is a slave, so are you from birth. It’s an inherited status, unless you were basically a “paid for child”, meaning somebody wanted a heir and you were born for that purpose. However, in turn this also means that if you are a slave, but the mother of your child is free, your child is freeborn.

Now, coming back to last names. Tatooine seems to have a lot of telling names, compare Skywalker, Darklighter, and Whitesun to Lars. I imagine the former three are typical slave names. Skills you might be known for, places you come from. When married, slaves usually do double names. If you marry into a free family, you usually, for safety reasons, go by the name of your free spouse. Shmi would always be Shmi Skywalker Lars, but likely introduce herself as "Shmi Lars" to avoid conflicts in the markets, cities, etc.with people thinking she's a runaway.

**Naboo**

On Naboo, it's more a question of which family has the most members or political influence. That's the reason Sola's husband took the Naberrie name. The Naberries have more influence and are well-known in political circles. Even if you personally don’t work in politics, if your spouse’s last name is more we’ll known, you’re more likely to take that to show your support.

Now, if somebody becomes a monarch, they choose their new title/last name to show that they now are representatives of their people as a whole, not just their family. This might also be the case for some very particularly politically minded people, but generally speaking only monarchs change their last names. If, after such a name change, you continue using their family name, you’re implying that you are a close friend to the person or a part of their family. So all of Padmé's handmaidens for example, could address her as "Padmé Naberrie" when discussing her after her reign, while a stranger would have to call her "Amidala". Choosing to use someone’s family name when you are neither a close friend or a family member, is a great insult.

Children of monarchs go by their family names, but if they go into politics or similar work, they are allowed to change to the royal title to symbolize stepping into their parent's footsteps.

**Now, if you put this together in case of Anakin/Padmé:**

Anakin straight up assumes their child will have "Naberrie" as a last name. He wants them to. They are freeborn and their mother is strong and smart and was a Queen. He doesn't hate his own last name, likes what it symbolizes and it's _his_ . Officially, Anakin’s full name after they married would be _Anakin Skywalker Naberrie_. But he wants his child to carry the name of their freeborn mothers. That's how it works in his mind.

Padmé on the other hand thinks about symbolism and the size of their family. She's been in the public eye since she was a little girl and while she loves her family, she wants to show Anakin that she is there for him. And then there's the whole aspect of following your parent's path. Their child is guaranteed to be Force-sensitive and whether Anakin leaves the Order or whatever different solution would come up, being part of the Force, a Jedi, is connected to the Skywalker last name. She also doesn't want Anakin to be the last of his line with his mother dead. So she assumed the twins are gonna have his last name.

Now imagine them both matter of fact saying this and the other going "wait what-"

And then the debating starts. Maybe they can agree on "okay, one public name, one family name" because that's kind of what both traditions share, even from widely different perspectives. But agreeing which name should be which is horror. Like, they are probably having fun because they will be parents! They're picking out baby names! And thinking about decorating the nursery! But this discussion also brings up Padmé's lack of childhood due to politics, Anakin's self-doubt about being a good Jedi and his slavery.

I imagine that in a happy fix it, the twins would probably end up as Luke & Leia Naberrie Skywalker.


	42. University DnD AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anakin’s DnD group apparently contains his boyfriend’s son and neither he nor Obi-Wan are aware of that for an embarrassingly long while. Meanwhile, Korkie and Ahsoka conspire to get the most out of this joke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, showing up with yet another AU: What up?
> 
> I was thinking about Obi-Wan and Anakin’s age difference in correlation to how old Korkie could be and then realized how hilarious this could be. Don’t read this if their age difference squicks you!

Korkie knew he had an unusual relationship with his parents. He supposed it stemmed from the fact that he hadn’t known they were his parents until he was thirteen, his actual grandparents had died, and custody arrangements had to be made.

Satine had always been Aunt Satine, or Aunty Tine when he’d been younger, much to Bo-Katan’s overall amusement. Obi-Wan was his godfather who showed up to all important events, was generally interested in his activities, which, retrospectively, must have been pretty boring, and gave him ice cream behind everyone’s backs. It was weird to think of them as his parents, especially since both were still convinced it had been for the best two twenty-year-olds hadn’t been made responsible for a baby, and not just because Adonai Kryze had feared for the image of his company. His grandfather had been a good father to him, but Korkie wasn’t so sure if Obi-Wan and Satine wouldn’t have been able to pull it off either way. They were pretty smart people. Satine had taken over grandfather’s company and Obi-Wan was a professor at the university. After grandfather had died, they’d done a pretty good job parenting him. No big arguments he could remember, fun alternating holidays and due to Obi-Wan’s now official parent status, Korkie also had more uncles and a grandfather to get to know. Not everything had gone smoothly at first, he remembered having been a very angry thirteen-year-old, but looking back, his childhood had been good.

So really, his family might be a little weird, but Korkie wouldn’t have it any other way. It occurred to him for the first time that it might cause trouble when he called Obi-Wan “Dad” on campus. He didn’t really call his parents “Mom” and “Dad” unless he wanted to poke fun at them and university was kind of really not to flaunt that the _very attractive_ Professor Kenobi every student was fawning over – which, _urgh_ , weird – was his father. But Obi-Wan had made a stupid comment about underage drinking – Korkie was seventeen, alright and everyone was drinking – so he had felt justified. Obi-Wan had only raised his eyebrow, wished him a good day and continued on to his English Literature class.

“Oh gosh, you just called Professor Kenobi _Dad_.”

Korkie turned around to see Ahsoka sneaking up on him. Ahsoka was his first friend at university. They both were “too smart for their own good” and had similar humor. Ahsoka had been an immense help getting settled on campus, especially when it came to figuring out how to stand your ground when everyone else in your classes was, on average, minimum five years older than you.

Ahsoka had introduced him to quite a lot of people, her older brother being one of them. Korkie had heard quite a lot about Anakin Skywalker before actually meeting him; or rather had learned a lot about him going by what Obi-Wan hadn't said about his new boyfriend. He was fun and kind, had helped Korkie by giving him his friend's old notes despite being busy getting PhD number who even knew anymore and studying up yet another subject. Korkie was doing law, so he shared no classes with Anakin being either a fellow student or the teacher. Ahsoka had said once that it was a little weird to sit in her biology class with Anakin as a fellow student (and older brother) and then step out of the classroom only for some engineering students to show up and ask whether Doctor Skywalker wanted the term papers by next week.

"Well, yeah," Korkie replied lamely.

Ahsoka dropped next to him at the lunch table. "Aren't you embarrassed at all?"

Korkie shrugged. "Why should I? It's the truth."

Besides, Ahsoka’s family was weird like his as well. She certainly had no room to judge. But still, she looked at him with an unreadable expression. "Obi-Wan Kenobi is your Dad, like actually your blood-related father?"

Korkie was ready to ask what all of this was about when he halted for a moment to consider. He had assumed Ahsoka knew, her brother _was_ dating his father after all, Korkie came over to their house every other week to study and unleash eleven magic, but had anybody actually told her?

"Yes, he is," Korkie replied slowly. "I didn't know until I was thirteen, but yeah. I thought Anakin told you."

Ahsoka looked like she was torn between hilarity and disbelief, trying to figure out whether he was joking. Korkie had a pretty good poker face, but he wouldn’t lie about that.

"Oh fuck," she finally said. "I can see it, you have the same-" she waved her hand in front of his face. "But like- Anakin never- I mean, I knew Obi-Wan had a kid but I thought it was a kid-kid, not you-aged-kid."

Korkie felt like pointing out that Anakin had been Ahsoka’s legal guardian since he was like eighteen. Obi-Wan had been twenty when Korkie had been born. It wasn’t that strange.

"We're not a very typical family," Korkie said. "And Obi-Wan never formally introduced Anakin to me."

Now that Korkie thought about it, Obi-Wan had never actually introduced him to Anakin. He had never even been in a room with all three of them. True, their relationship was newer, but _still_. Did his father even know Korkie had weekly meetings with his boyfriend?

Ahsoka seemed to come to the same conclusion as him as her face split into a grin. "Dude, Anakin invited you to join our DnD group because he thought you looked sad and needed more friends. I don't think he knows. Does Obi-Wan-"

Korkie shook his head. "No, he doesn't"

Now Ahsoka began laughing. "Korkie, you genius, you parent-trapped them."

Well, he supposed she was right on that account.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so:  
> \- Korkie is Obi-Wan and Satine's kid, and just started studying Law. Poor baby-faced 17-year-old kid.  
> \- Neither Obi-Wan nor Satine are really parents-parents. More like Aunt & Uncle figures.  
> \- Ahsoka (19) does biochemistry and is Anakin's (24) younger half-sister. Their mother died when Anakin was 19 and he's been looking after her ever since. Anakin basically finances them on his teaching pay and various patents because he's a certified genius and collects degrees like Bruce Banner.  
> \- Obi-Wan and Anakin started dating like 2 months back  
> \- Rex & Cody are also part of the DnD group.  
> \- watch the chaos begin.


	43. Luke Vanto AU (1) 27/06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the span of one day, Eli Vanto got married and adopted a small orphaned boy with bright blue eyes. Not for the first time he wished Thrawn would have asked him whether he’d be alright with raising the child of Jedi, thereby harboring a traitor to the Empire, but unfortunately he was right to assume that Eli wouldn’t be able to abandon little Luke Skywalker once he met him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea is basically the set up for a slow burn fake/pretend fake marriage Thranto AU ft. Luke (& later Vader inserting himself as Luke’s teacher, entirely unaware that’s his son.)  
> Takes place during the Thrawn novel timeline wise, roughly sometime after Thrawn got promoted.

“My parents,” Eli said flatly, “are going to disinherit me.”

The few calls he shared with them nowadays were dreadful and Eli took every chance to escape those calls. Things had been tense enough since he had admitted that he didn’t just mind working under Thrawn, he even enjoyed it at times. What were they going to say when he mentioned that he had gotten _married_ to said man so he could adopt the orphaned son of a Jedi? Eli imagined there would be a lot of screaming that ended with him and Thrawn imprisoned while little Luke Skywalker would be dragged into the belly of the Imperial beast and disappear.

No, he’d have to lie to them.

The worst part was that they likely would be more understanding as to why he had thrown away his entire plans for the future if he actually were in love with Thrawn. It certainly made more sense than his, in their eyes, misplaced loyalty.

It would still end with him being disinherited, but at least Luke would be fine. Eli shouldn’t be so attached to the boy already, but it was hard not to when he was so small and had suffered so much already.

“I take it they will not be happy with the sudden presence of a grandchild?” Thrawn said.

Eli didn’t understand what the point of that statement was. Thrawn was well-aware how strained Eli’s relationship to his parents had become. They had never spoken about it, but the Chiss was certainly perceptive enough to have caught onto it.

“They will not.”

“Pity,” Thrawn said, his eyes never leaving the form of the sleeping boy in front of them. “I had hoped they might be of use in raising him.”

Eli stared at him.

“I have never raised a child, have you? And gifted as he might be, he is no Jedi.”

Eli imagined hearing a ‘ _yet’_ attached to that statement. He didn’t want to know why exactly Thrawn had decided to take in the child of a Jedi, but given that the boy now had Eli’s family name and Eli was one of his adoptive parents, he figured he had to learn.

It occurred to him then that he might be the only reasonable influence Luke would get over the next decade until he was an adult and his own person. Eli was responsible for this child’s well-being and emotional development.

“Children,” Eli said slowly. “Are not chess pieces.”

Thrawn turns his head only so slightly that he was able to study Eli, but didn’t reply before looking at Luke again.

Eli kind of wanted to scream, but given that his new son was sleeping, he settled on getting himself some caf.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Future plot includes:  
> \- Thrawn & Eli finding out how many assumed they were an item anyway  
> \- Luke having a very weird childhood. Probably meets Ezra and they hit it off which is very inconvenient for Thrawn  
> \- Vader inserting himself as Luke’s teacher  
> \- Eli having a minor breakdown when, after he discovers it, Thrawn informs Eli that Luke is Vader’s son  
> \- Obi-Wan joining the rebellion after Luke disappears and freaking out when there’s a picture of Grand Admiral Thrawn with his family and Luke Skywalker, who has been missing for a while by then, is standing there  
> \- Eli demanding a proper wedding at some point


	44. Reincarnation AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan hadn’t remembered who he was and who _they_ were supposed to be until Mortis forced all his memories down his throat. All that was left to do now, was picking up the pieces and hope it was enough. They had done this song and dance more than a thousand times, been everything they could be to one another. It would just need more time in this life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This scene is actually set in the very middle of the AU. People who don’t like guessing might wanna skip to the end notes first. Pls don’t take this too seriously it’s 1am and this is what I show up with.

Dooku shouldn’t be here. The fact that he dared to walk through these sacred halls nobody but them should ever see made Obi-Wan’s blood boil. He remembered centuries of pain and joy, all of them written into the walls he had wanted to tear down. He- _She_ had burned the archive down in her rage, her grief-stricken attempt at protecting a dead child. Obi-Wan wasn’t sure whether her actions had been correct and really protected whom he held dear, but he still remembered the feeling of his child bleeding out and dying in her arms. Maybe, hadn’t she broken the cycle, Obi-Wan never would have forgotten and Anakin wouldn’t live in conflict with his abilities. Or maybe they would have been enslaved for centuries to come, in each life being used to find the other and doom them to a terrible fate.

But Obi-Wan was incapable of judging her actions and it wasn’t his place to do so either. The only one who had any right to pass judgement onto her was Anakin.

“And then I too will be Sith’ari,” Dooku concluded his terrible speech.

Obi-Wan wanted to rip his throat out for transgressing, for all his hubris, but not as much as he wanted to ruin him for daring to hurt Anakin. There had been sweeter lives, kinder ones where Obi-Wan had never needed to raise a blade, unaware of the galaxy at large, but this life wasn’t one of them. They had never done well with conflicts, needing each other too much. When they were pushed, they pushed back and the results were catastrophes that swallowed suns whole.

Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin. He was half torn between wishing to attack Dooku despite his injuries and wishing to look around. Obi-Wan knew that look in his eyes, had seen it a thousand times as they first stepped into this place.  
Obi-Wan needed to draw Dooku’s attention away from Anakin.

“It’s not a title,” Obi-Wan spoke up, the knowledge that had burdened him since Mortis surged to the forefront of his mind. “It’s a name.”

Dooku only smiled condescendingly. “You think you can school me on the past of the Sith?”

It was a gamble, but Obi-Wan’s ‘saber laid broken at his side and Dooku was still holding onto Anakin’s.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied. “Because this is not a Sith temple.”

Obi-Wan had strived to be the best Jedi, to honor his Master’s memory and make him proud. He remembered so many more lives where he had tried to do the exact same, others where he wanted to be everything but, and even more where it had hardly mattered who he was as long as he had his one constant by his side.

 _Anakin_.

It was always Anakin.

Dooku frowned, amusement slowly fading away and being replaced with anger. It fit him, Tyrannus, to be made of such.  
“The Sith’ari-”

“Her name,” Obi-Wan interrupted, “was Ari of the House of Sith. I don’t know what possessed them to make a title out of it, but Sith’ari was a name.”

That was a lie. Obi-Wan knew exactly what had lead to them erasing the story of Ari, who had been swallowed by her grief, and replace it with that of myths. She had done this cultivation herself, she sought to destroy all information and every person who remembered the damaged bastard and her unlawful child or, even worse, the one who had been created and the one who existed. She had made herself Empress, nothing more and nothing less. The galaxy had forgotten what they had done to her and her child in favor of remembering the cruelties she’d become known for. The conquering, the wars, the bloodshed, the execution, the hope to finally see Ahnakeen again-

“What do you think you are talking about?” Dooku asked.

“The truth,” Obi-Wan answered. “This place precedes all concept of Sith and Jedi, it is home to the Force itself, where it gave birth first and created second and you never should have even seen the insides of these halls.”

He could feel Anakin questioning Obi-Wan’s statements as much as why he found himself agreeing with them. This place had always been clear in a way no other place in the galaxy had been. It was understandable of course. This where it had all started, where they went to record the lives they had lived and tip the scales back into balance.

“What do you know?” Dooku snarled heatedly.

Obi-Wan couldn’t help the bright smile that forced itself upon him. How could he when he had been there, seen the most beautiful sight there was and would always be?

“Everything. I was there when the universe took its first breath.” Their eyes hadn’t been blue then but a kaleidoscope of colors, yet the exact same shade of blue Anakin wore today had been present there already. “Were you as well?”

And then, without another warning, Dooku charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came up in a talk with my friend, the idea that Anakin as the child of the Force is a constant presence, reincarnating over and over again, but not keeping his memories at all. And Obi-Wan as the being made for Anakin, an anchor to keep him in check basically. And his reincarnations usually are at least semi-aware. They had worked out this system where they recorded their lives in one temple, thousands upon thousands of stories of parents, children, siblings, friends, lovers, soulmates-
> 
> Right up until it went wrong and Anakin, Obi-Wan’s child in this cycle, dies pretty young because others wanted his power. Obi-Wan - Ari - then decided to break this tradition by destroying the archive of their memories to make sure nobody could missuse Anakin’s powers again, kind of breaking the reincarnation cycle while they were at it. So they keep reincarnating, without their memories and the helpful “KEEP THE BALANCE OF THE FORCE” mission Anakin was created for in the first place. Right up until it smacks Obi-Wan in the face on Mortis. So here Dooku discovered The Original Temple and Obi-Wan is pissed bc no intruders. Original plan for this story was to switch between the present and various past lives, but eeeeh.


	45. Suburbs and Crime AU (4) 31/08

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is for the wonderful Rynae whose favorite AU this is and whom I promised an update.  
> So, here's the dinner part 2.  
> Part 3, Puns Intensify, shall be written next. Have fun!

“What _the hell_ are you doing here?”

Anakin thought he wasn’t seeing correctly when he stared into the face of Dooku Serenno. Anakin had met the man plenty of times in the past, in the part of his past he thought he could finally leave behind and forget, more or less at least. He couldn’t believe it. Everything had been going great lately. He had gotten a part-time job to keep busy when the twins were gone and the FBI wasn’t breathing down his neck, the twins had adjusted wonderfully to Kindergarten and had made plenty of friends, and Anakin had a boyfriend.

An absolutely perfect man miles out of his league whom he didn’t deserve and still stayed with him. Obi-Wan was too good to be true sometimes. He was caring and thoughtful with his every gesture, adored the twins and never even minded it when they talked about Padmé. Anakin hadn’t even thought about dating again before meeting him, his status making it more than difficult, and even without that – Anakin loved Padmé. He couldn’t imagine not being in love with her and had always assumed that immediately would deter anybody who could see past the whole single-father of twins and yet Obi-Wan never even looked jealous. If anything, he encouraged the twins to speak of their mother.

Anakin had known that he fell hard and fast for people, but the thought of Obi-Wan someday not being there had already become unbearable.

And now he was staring at Dooku.

Dooku, who knew all the blood that stained Anakin’s hands, who had seen him at his worst and walked through the aftermaths of one of Vader’s infamous tantrums. The fragile peace Anakin had found was threatening to fall apart just because of his presence.

“I believe should be asking you that,” Dooku spoke up icily. “What are you doing here, Vader? What do you want from my grandson?”

“Grandson?” Anakin echoed. Right. Dinner with Obi-Wan’s family of which Dooku was a part. Anakin couldn’t see any resemblance between Obi-Wan and Dooku – but Obi-Wan had said that he was adopted. And yet, still-

 _Still_ – how could somebody as good as Obi-Wan come from the same family as Dooku. The bastard was to blame that Sidious had gotten away with as many of his crimes as he had. Sure, Sidious had also threatened him, but the man had been stupid enough to help Sheev Palpatine once. He should have known what it would lead to. The only reason Anakin hadn’t mentioned any of that to the agents holding his leash was simply that there were more important people to worry about than the lawyers Sidious had made use of. His enforcers were much more dangerous and more likely to kill you.

“I didn’t know about this,” Anakin continued.

Dooku rolled his eyes. “ _Obviously_ … But neither did I. I thought you were dead.”

“I am,” Anakin hissed. “Vader-” Anakin paused to look around as if anybody could overhear him. It was stupid, but he had just walked into the guy who was the reason he was short an arm. He figured he could allow himself some paranoia. “ _Vader_ died five years ago and I do not plan on resurrecting him.”

“So you will just content yourself with bringing your enemies down on my family?”

Anakin felt his rage begin to boil up. That was absolutely not the case. He had done everything he could to ensure his family was safe and that nobody near him would ever learn of the secrets he was hiding.

“I didn’t-“

“Daddy, daddy!”

The door was ripped open again and Luke was staring at Anakin with wide eyes, utterly excited. “Daddy, Obi-Wan’s daddy is even taller than you!”

“Oh?” Anakin crouched down in front of his son, keenly avoiding looking at Dooku. He knew that if he did so now, he would lose all his calm. He needed to get away from this situation for a moment.

He never should have invited Obi-Wan over, never should have spoken to him-

“That’s impossible, sweetheart,” Anakin said seriously. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Luke shouted and took Anakin’s hand to pull him inside. “Daddy, you have to come see.”

Glancing back at Dooku, Anakin allowed himself to be dragged away by his son. He made a gesture that hopefully conveyed that Dooku should shut his mouth and focused on Luke instead.

Luke led him into the living room. It was small but cozy and half the dishes were already put on the table. The food looked amazing, much more extravagant than anything Anakin was used to for homemade dinners and his and Obi-Wan’s dates had all been homemade dinners because Anakin was a paranoid bastard who didn’t want to leave the twins home alone with a babysitter.

Anakin kind of wanted to throw up.

This was so normal.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had done that-

No, he could. Over five years ago, in those last months of Padmé’s pregnancy when they had thought they had escaped Sidious and were just happy together. They had eaten breakfast in bed and cooked together and wondered how they would handle all this with a child as neither had been particularly used to running a household on their own. They had tried to figure out what house to buy and how to paint the nursery-

“So you’re Anakin Lars, yes?”

The man Luke had led him to was indeed taller than Anakin, though not by that much. He had long hair, pulled back into a ponytail, and a kind smile. He seemed like a nice man, utterly unbothered by Leia sitting on his shoulders and braiding his hair.

“Yes, Sir,” Anakin said.

That was how you still introduced yourself to your partner’s parent, wasn’t it? Anakin wasn’t slipping back into _yes, master, no, master, I will try, master-_

“It’s nice to meet you Anakin,” Qui-Gon said warmly. “And no need to call me Sir, please. I’ve been waiting to meet you. Your twins have already had a lot to say about you.”

“Ah yes. They talk a lot,” Anakin said lamely. Could this situation get even anymore out of control?

“Honestly, Father,” Qui-Gon then sighed and looked past Anakin to where Dooku must be standing. “What have you told this poor boy? He looks like we’re going to eat him alive.”

“I have done nothing-“

“We used to work together,” Anakin quickly intervened. “I gave Dooku’s company a hand when it came to their cybersecurity and somebody still managed to get to Dooku. Don’t think he’ll ever forgive me for that one. It was a huge loss, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Dooku gritted out in-between shut teeth. “Tremendously.”

“Is that work I hear?”

A new man entered the living room from the kitchen it looked like. His black hair was a mess and he mustered the group in front of him with interested eyes. This must be Xanatos then, Obi-Wan’s other brother.

“I thought we said no work talk,” Xanatos continued and then held his hand out to Anakin. “Nice to meet the guy who made my brother act like a schoolgirl with a crush. I’m Xanatos.”

Anakin took his hand. “Anakin.” _Vader, Vader, Vader._ “Lars. Niece to meet you. Obi-Wan has told me a lot about you.”

“All good only, I hope?” Xanatos asked with a smirk that was borderline flirtatious.

“Stop flirting with my boyfriend!” Obi-Wan then shouted from the kitchen as well and moments later walked inside with a couple of bowls in hand. “Please just ignore him, Anakin. He’s an idiot. Qui-Gon dropped him too much on the head as a child.”

“Hahaha, very funny,” Xanatos replied and then finally sat down in his cha. “I was a teenager already when Qui-Gon got stuck with me. You, however, itty-bitty Oafy-Wan-“

“ _Boys_ ,” Qui-Gon’s voice rang out. He sounded a little tired, this arguing must happen more often then. Anakin only hoped that Luke and Leia wouldn’t turn out like that. “I apologize, Anakin. I fear you get to see all of Obi-Wan’s bad sides today. The two of them are not as well behaved as your children.”

Qui-Gon looked up to Leia who was content sitting on his shoulders and smiled. “You are a little princess, aren’t you, Miss Leia?”

“Yeah!” Leia agreed. “And when I grow up, I’m going to be president.”

“I will be a knight,” Luke spoke up. “And I’ll save daddy from all the bad guys.”

Anakin smiled slightly. If he had something to say about it, his son very much would not ever even _see_ one of the ghosts haunting Anakin.

“Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.” Anakin shot Dooku a meaningful look. They could settle _this_ later, but he wouldn’t ruin this evening for Obi-Wan.

“And what is that smell? I would give an arm and a leg for that dish.”

The twins, long used to his jokes, still giggled while Obi-Wan only rolled his eyes, Qui-Gon and Xanatos looked confused and Dooku-

Dooku was pale.

Was it- _No_. It couldn’t be but-

Well, Perhaps the tyrannical lawyer was feeling a little guilty about Anakin’s predicament.

Oh.

Oh, this could be _fun_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anakin: I'm 0.2 seconds away from a breakdown but I can make puns at the guy who is the reason i lost my arm so might as well continue-


	46. Crèchemaster Vader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Anakin Skywalker struggles to maintain his deep cover as Darth Vader while raising a clan of former Jedi younglings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double Agent Vader! Written for my server's prompts bc I combined fluff and angst!

He stared in horror at the children in front of him. They weren’t supposed to be here. They were supposed to have evacuated the temple already. Their plan, complicated, hastily thrown together and a mess, had been focused on getting the children away before anyone else. _He_ wouldn’t be able to hide them from the troopers or Sidious. He couldn’t smuggle them out of the temple without anyone’s knowledge.

“Master Skywalker!” One of the younglings said, terror written all over his face. He was so young still, his Padawan braid so incredibly short. Silently, he wondered if he had looked just like the boy in front of him when he had been his age. Four foot nothing with hollowed cheeks next to his much too young and grieving Master. He felt his throat close up.

He was going to ruin these children and the bright future they were supposed to have. He should have known better, been able to sense something from Sidious. Some Chosen One he was.

“There are too many of them! What are we supposed to do?”

Too many men turned into tools and he had brought them to their home to burn it down. They had loved their troopers, had vividly debated and discussed how they would go about integrating them into the normal civilian population or temple life once the war was over. They had been dear friends and protectors. He had frequently spotted troopers that had been stationed near the crèche with suddenly small handprints decorating their armor on top of the markings they had already had. A few of his men had gotten them as well and displayed them with pride.

They still wore the marks of childish innocence as they cut through the temple.

He could hear the blaster shots ring out behind him. He did a quick headcount of the children. There were about ten of them, the youngest being just toddlers. They all had to be of one clan. An entire clan of younglings stuck up here in the council chamber. He wouldn’t be able to save them from this.

His lightsaber was still warm. For just a moment he considered it.

It would be mercy, spare them from all the pain that was to come, from witnessing or partaking in the genocide of their own people. Bile rose up in his throat. He suddenly understood so much better how Quinlan had become the kind of man who would attack his own Padawan outright. The darkness was all-consuming, horrifying. It ate away at you and didn’t release you.

It would be kinder to slaughter these children, the darkness whispered, and perhaps it would, his own mother had tried to spare him the horrors of slavery, but he had never been as strong as the people he loved.

He couldn’t do it.

He was going to be a father soon, hopefully, if Padmé could still stand to be near him for what he was doing to secure a future whether they had least had a fighting chance still. If Padmé did the dumb thing and stayed on Coruscant. There hadn’t been the time to tell her to pack her things and run. Everything had escalated so quickly.

“You are Jedi no longer,” he said monotonously. It was the only way he could force himself to speak. It was the same way he talked in the aftermath of a brutal battle with too many civilian causalities, not that any of these children would recognize this tone. Ahsoka would, as would Obi-Wan, but neither were here. He wondered if they were still alive, still fighting. He wanted to rip through time and space, reach for their bond, but he couldn’t.

He wouldn’t be able to keep standing if he checked and only found the void of the Force answering.

His heart clenched painfully. He was condemning these children and they would hate him for it. His new Master wouldn’t be pleased that he had deviated from his mission parameters, or perhaps he would be delighted to have more back up apprentices in case he went rogue.

Either the children would die by his hand or his Master’s or they would still be alive to hate him.

“What?” a Togruta youngling spoke up fearfully. “What are you talking about?”

“My new name is Darth Vader,” he said and pretended their pain twisted expressions didn’t break his heart. He couldn’t afford to show any weakness now. “From now on, you will address me as Lord Vader. You will follow my every command and you will do exactly as I say.”

_I’m sorry,_ he wanted to weep. _I’m sorry, I’m sorry nobody came to save you. I’m sorry that I’m all you have left_.

“The Jedi have betrayed the Republic and tried to kill the Chancellor,” he continued. Jedi younglings were smart, he hoped they caught on. “You will serve me first and then the Chancellor. You will not disobey, you will not speak one word out of tune. You have to survive, do you understand me?”

They exchanged worried looks. Of course, they didn’t entirely understand yet what was going on, but right now Ana- _Vader_ didn’t have the time to explain fully. He needed to secure his place in the Empire and make sure that Sidious trusted him.

“Please,” he whispered. “You need to live, and all the Jedi _will_ die. You cannot be Jedi.”

“Haj dai,1 Lord Vader,” the Padawan said shakily. He had understood then.

“Good.”

It hadn’t been a moment too late.

Commander Appo stormed into the room, his blasters aimed at the children. “My Lord,” he said, “those are traitors.”

They are children, he wanted to scream, reach for Vader’s anger and squeeze the man’s throat until it snapped.

“Lower your blaster, commander,” Vader hissed. “These are my students.”

“Sir, they are Jedi-“

“Not anymore, trooper,” Vader ordered. “Not anymore. They will be trained by me and serve the Empire loyally. Am I understood?”

Appo and his men lowered their blasters. “Understood, Sir,” they said. “There are a few Jedi left, but the men have almost cleansed the entire temple.”

_Cleansed_.

One of the younger children whimpered. A- _Vader_ wanted to do nothing more than take them into his arms and tell them that everything would be alright again, even when he knew this to be a lie.

Their people were dead, and they had died with them.

“Well done, Commander.”

If he didn’t know that it wasn’t actually his Commander in there, but Sidious’s programming, he would have cut off that man’s head faster than he had taken any life in the past years. “You will stay here. Protect my students. Do not let any harm come to them or you will answer to me.”

“Yes, my Lord.” The Commander’s voice was bland. The troopers had always followed military protocol better than any of the Jedi, not having been brought up on warfare, but he couldn’t forget the slightly resigned cadence of Cody’s voice, the defiance in Fives’, Rex and his affection-

“Good.”

He turned to the terrified children, all huddled together now.

“ _Ben_ 2,” he instructed them quietly. “We will survive this. I will return to you.”

He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little verse. Might continue in the future with Darth Vader and his not-Jedi acolytes.  
> For those who wonder, the words are [Dai Bendu](https://dai-bendu-conlang.tumblr.com/), a Jedi conlang I'm creating together with friends!
> 
>   1. Haj dai: Yes; lit. "Force Wills" [ ▲ ]
>   2. Ben: endure; an expression that means something along the lines "I know you will endure this and you have to" [ ▲ ]
> 



	47. Sad Master Skywalker AU (1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are things Obi-Wan Kenobi does not expect, such as the sudden appearance of an Anakin who stems from a universe where he was Obi-Wan's Master and everything burned on Mustafar.
> 
> Ships:  
> Alternate Verse - Obi-Wan/Padmé  
> "Canon Verse": Anakin/Padmé and Alternate Anakin/Obi-Wan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would 2021 be without me tossing another AU into the void

Obi-Wan didn’t understand this Anakin. The man in front of him was so wholly different from the Padawan Obi-Wan had taught. He couldn’t imagine him growing up to be this broken man, carrying more grief than he had thought possible.

“Certainly our worlds cannot differ so much—”

“You were _my_ Padawan.” Anakin cut him off sharply. “I raised you— _him_ , and he was brilliant and good and I should have saved him. What Chosen One am I if I can’t even keep my Padawan away from one Sith Lord?”

Anakin’s laugh was a bitter thing, reminding Obi-Wan of waves crashing into harsh cliffs, relentlessly eating away at the stone until nothing remained. Obi-Wan waited until Anakin had calmed, his shoulders ceasing to tremble from the tears he refused to shed, and he had an inkling to the words this man needed to hear.

“You are not to blame for your student’s actions.”

Masters failed all the time, but not each and every flaw of their student was to be laid at their feet to be counted, examined, and drowned in. Obi-Wan knew that his Anakin, the reckless young Knight, was not without troubles, but he couldn’t take responsibility for him until the day he died.

Silence fell between the two, fragile as glass, cracks already prominent.

“But I loved him,” Anakin confessed, his voice hollow, as if everything that had made him bright and burning had been extinguished. “I _love_ him and I couldn’t let go—”

A loud cry interrupted them. Obi-Wan’s first thought was of the war raging beyond Coruscant’s horizons, the endless battlefields, but the split-second it had taken him to shake off that image had been enough for Anakin to jump to his feet and rush into the direction of the crib.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Role reversal time!  
> Alternate Verse: Anakin is still the chosen one! On the mission to Naboo he and his Master Sheev Palpatine stumbled upon the talented little ship rat Obi-Wan Kenobi who was later accepted to become a Jedi. Master Palpatine died during the mission and Anakin proceeded to train Obi-Wan. And then basically canon happened and the Empire with its rule Qui-Gon Jinn rose. Except Anakin never made it to Tatooine with baby Luke, but ended up in TCW Canon.
> 
> TCW Canon: Canon Verse! Except Obi-Wan now has to deal with an Anakin _from an alternate reality_ who is the same age as him and a Jedi Master on the verge of breakdown, keeping his sanity together by caring for a newborn. Who is apparently Obi-Wan's son in that reality. And the Chancellor might be a Sith Lord. It's not his day.


End file.
